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The ]Masox Statue 
P((Hi()t Hill. Mystic. Connecticut 



FAMILY RECORD 
IN OUR LINE OE DESCENT FRO.M 

Major John Mason of Norwich 
Connecticut 



BY 



THEODORE WEST ^ASON 



"There is a Moral and Philosophical respect for our Ancestors 
which elevates the character and improves the heart." 

—WEBSTER 




THE GRAFTON PRESS 

NEW YORK 
MCMIX 






Copyright 1909, 
by Theodore West Mason 



Limited edition for private distribution 



• t I 



lCi.A25298rj 



IT is noticcuble, the fz;rc:it change of view that has taken 
place of kite years with the development of the inner antl 
truer history of the New Knglantl colonial life. 

Wealtii and leisure have brought to men of culture and travel, 
and intelligent interest in such things, the means to procure and 
bring to this country records and manuscripts that confute the 
ultra-logical conclusions which have had credence. 

The old New England historical societies are growing rich in 
these accessions, as well as in the discovery and restoring of 
ancient records long buried here at home, that help dispel the 
mistaken fancies and the prejudices of the past. 

"Whatever may have taken place later, the Puritanism of the 
first forty years of the seventeenth century was not tainted with 
degrading or ungraceful associations of any sort. The rank, the 
wealth, the chivalry, the genius, the learning, the accomplish- 
ments, the social refinements and elegance of the time, were 
largely represented in its ranks. The Earls of Leicester, Bedford, 
Huntington, and Warwick, Sir Nicholas Bacon, his greater son, 
Walsingham, Burleigh, Mildma)^, Sadler, Knollys, were specimens 
of a host of eminent men more or less friendly to, or tolerant of it. 
The Parliamentar}^ general, Devereaux, Earl of Essex, was 
formed with every grace of person, mind and culture, to be the 
ornament of a splendid court, the model knight; and the position 
of ^Manchester, Warwick, Fairfax, and men of their class, was by 
birthright in the most polished circle of English society. The 
statesmen of the first period of that Parliament which by and liy 
dethroned Charles the First, had been bred in the luxury of the 
landed aristocracy of the realm; while of the nobility, Manches- 
ter, Essex, Warwick, Brooke, Fairfax, and others, and of the 
gentry, a long roll of men of the scarcely inferior position of 
Hampden and Waller, commanded and officered its armies and 
fleets. With such aids, the first effort of a large number of its 
most capable clergy had been to influence the Church in the 
natural progress of the sentiment of reform. 

5 



6 A MASON RECORD 

Puritanism, from the outbreak of the Great RebelUon, was 
subjected to the infehcities and abuses which necessarily attend 
a formidable and successful party." (Palfrey's New England.) 

The true genesis of New England life began with the colony 
which landed in J\Iassachusetts Bay. The social elements that 
had collected on the spot were very diverse. The company of 
settlers at Plymouth were not homogeneous. Bancroft, referring 
to their life and habits in his review of the settlement of New 
England, writes that "candour compels us to say, they had no 
direct and but little indirect influence in shaping its development." 

The projectors and leaders of the Massachusetts Company as 
man)^ writers have shown — in the words of Professor Hale: "They 
were not the same men; their history was not the same; their 
industries were not the same; they were men who in England 
were called another class; people who had been in the Universities, 
people who had been in the Court, people who had friends at 
Court," and Palfrey says of them, "The principal planters of 
Massachusetts were English country gentlemen of no inconsider- 
able fortunes; of enlarged understandings, improved by liberal 
education." 

Elliott in his History says, "Let it be remembered that these 
were still members of the Church of England, though non-con- 
formists, not separatists," and that "Associated were many 
gentlemen of wealth and consequence in London City, as well as 
gentlemen Squires, and others, Lords of Manors, who sought a 
change." 

He speaks of the relations in which they left the old country: 

"The Massachusetts Bay Colonists did not wish to be considered 
Independents. To guard against the charge of being separatists, 
Winthrop and his friends, before sailing for Massachusetts Bay, 
issued 7 April, 1630, from the Arbella at Falmouth, an address 
to the people of England, desiring them to take notice of the prin- 
cipal and body of our Company, as those who esteem it our honour 
to call the Church of England, from whence we rise, our dear 
Mother." 

In Prince's Annals I, he refers to "the far greater part of the 
Puritans remaining still in the Church, writing with zeal against 
the separatists." The Puritans desired reformation within the 



i 



A MASON RECORD 7 

Church of England itself, and those who came to Massachusetts 
Bay and later severetl their connection with the English Church, 
did so only after such a reformation proved impracticable. 

Professor Hale, in one of his addresses, describes tiieir de- 
barking: "Our prosperous Massachusetts Colony made the shore 
and landed on the next day, on the 21st of June, in the glow of 
summer, landed in the midst of strawberries and flowers and all 
the luxuiios of the Beverly shore, with the dignified arrangements 
of those who came in a fleet, fortified by the charter of a King, 
to carry on a Government in a way predetermined in London." 
And then a circumstance of great weight and consideration in 
these days, of which Senator Depew speaks: "They brought 
with them £500,000 in gold and silver money, estimated to be 
the equivalent in our time of not less than 815,000,000. The his- 
tory of immigration may be searched in vain for any parallel. 
These people were led by graduates of Oxford and Cambridge. 
They were educated and prosperous beyond the mass of their 
countrymen. They came to found homes and build a State. 
They were colonists come to found settlements, not immigrants 
for adoption into already formed governments. They left com- 
fortable homes, and came among the first to this favoured land 
to prepare the institutions under whose beneficent influence 
those of other countries could find justice, and opportunity, and 
progress." They were in every class of life of pure English descent, 
almost all of them coming from the midland counties. 

Palfrey, in the preface to his first volume, states: "Their 
coming to New England began in 1620. It was inconsiderable 
till 1G30. At the end of ten years more, it almost ceased. A 
people consisting at that time of not many more than twenty 
thousand persons, thenceforward multiplied on its own soil in 
remarkable seclusion from other communities, for nearly a cen- 
tury and a half. During that long period, and for many years 
later, their identity was unimpaired. Exceptions to this state- 
ment are of small account. In 1652, after the battles of Dunbar 
and Worcester, Cromwell sent some four or five hundred of his 
Scotch prisoners to Boston; but very little trace of this accession 
is left. The discontented strangers took no root. After the rev- 
ocation of the Edict of Nantes in 16S5, about a hundred and 



.8 A MASON RECORD 

fifty families of French Huguenots came to Massachusetts, where, 
though their names have mostly died out, a considerable number 
of their posterity are still to be found. A hundred and twenty 
Scotch-Irish families came over in 1719, and settled in New 
Hampshire. Thus the people of New England are a singularly 
unmixed race. There is probably not a county in England 
occupied by a population of purer English blood than theirs." 

The Puritan was a strict moralist, and in politics he was the 
liberal of his day. In an address before the New England Society 
the Rev. Dr. William Reed Huntington, a descendant of Chris- 
topher of Norwich, describes them as idealists, not visionaries 
but practical men of ideas. "They had set their hearts on solving 
the problem of the perfect commonwealth. They left the old 
England because they thought, mistakenly as it has turned out, 
but they honestly thought she was past saving, and came to this 
untenanted coast that they might build an England new. The 
profoundest view of the history of the United States is that 
which sees in it a continuation of the history of England, It is 
more, but it is that. Witness that best of all flattery, which at 
this very moment the old England is paying to the new, the 
flattery of imitation." 

Hollister, in his History of Connecticut, writes of the founders : 
"I have said that the first English planters of Connecticut were 
of no vulgar origin; they had made great sacrifices to remove their 
families and their friends to America. Laborers were few, and 
they had no money to transport them in such numbers as were 
needed in a new country. 

"The best planters, therefore, could find nothing degrading 
in the use of the ax or the plow — it is true they brought with 
them many servants, but most of them were so from temporary 
causes; but the planters, the substantial land holders, who began 
to plant those 'three vines in the wilderness', sprung from the 
better classes, and a large proportion of them from the landed 
gentry of England. This fact is proved not only by tracing in- 
dividual families, but by the very names that those founders 
bore. From actual examination it appears that more than four- 
fifths of the early landed proprietors of Hartford, Wethersfield 
and Windsor belonged to families that had arms granted to them 



A MASON RECORD 9 

in Great Britain. This lar<;c infusion of the Mood of tiio hotter 
class of Knghsh families nuf!;ht lead, were it philosophically 
considered, to an explainition of nuu-li that has been thought 
to be new and peculiar in cnu" institutions and our people. 

I should iiardly expect to be contradicted by any well informed 
genealogist either in England or America, were I to express my 
belief that tliere is hartUy a man now living whose descent can 
be traced to the early planters of Connecticut, who will not be 
found to be derived, through one branch or another of his pedi- 
gree, from those families who helped to frame the British Con- 
stitution, who elaborated by slow degrees the Common Law, 
who atlvocated the iloctrines of both with their tongues and 
their pen.s, or defended them with their swords." 

The traditional respect of the freemen for advantages of social 
position was great, and family prestige had much influence. 

He directs attention to the early titles used in Connecticut, 
and the distinctions they conveyed. "I have found in the records 
of no people, worthy to be called civilized, the internal evidences 
of grade and rank adjusted more carefully than can be traced in the 
files and books of the early documentary history of our own Col- 
ony. The lines drawn around these respective classes were not 
so strict as to be in tiie way of personal merit when it sought to 
rise; but were sufficiently so to characterize the several grades." 

The following are among those described. It is well to note 
here that the clergymen who were with the early planters of Con- 
necticut, some twenty in numl)er, were most every one of good 
family among the gentry of England; and all of them, Hollister 
describes as "gentlemen of uncommon powers of mind, of elegant 
manners, and thorough-bred scholars, in an age when scholars 
were rare." Several of them afterwards returned to England. 

Military titles were considered of a very high order until the 
close of the Revolution, and before then took precedence, except 
of the clergy. 

"Honourable" was not used until 1685, and for many years 
given only to the Governor, and occasionally to the Deputy- 
Governor. 

"Esquire" was very rarely used for the first century, and 
indicated especially one of importance and large estate, having 



10 A MASON RECORD 

about the same signification that it had in England, being 
placed after the name, and before or after that of the place of 
residence. 

"Master" — "Mr." belonged to all gentlemen, including those 
designated by the higher marks of rank, for nearly the first one 
hundred and fifty years, and was an index of good birth, education 
and estate, corresponding to the English term of "Gentleman," 
placed at the end of the name usually as "Gent." 

These titles continued, with the significance and influence they 
had under the old Colonial charter, until about twenty years after 
the close of the Revolution. I have, therefore, down to that 
generation taken pains to retain the titles borne by members of 
the family; after that period, in the new order of things, the appli- 
cation made of these terms changed entirely the meaning and 
consequence that had once distinguished them. 

The plan of this work may seem to require some prefatory 
statement. Its subject might have been treated in a regularly 
arranged genealogical chart or form. But the intention is to give 
a short sketch of the head of each family; and a sufficient account 
of the wife's family to locate and designate distinctly her con- 
nection, that for further information the one desiring it may turn 
to such record. With the marriage of a daughter, enough is given 
for the same object. 

In compiling the Register my purpose has been to have in more 
convenient form of reference for those interested, the record of 
this branch of the family, with authority to be had for every- 
thing written, and the wish to avoid any use of time and space 
in matter not essential. 

Greenwich, Conn., Theodore W. Mason 

189.3 



MAJOR John Mason, our ancestor in this country, was born 
in Enghuul about the year IGOl. 

He was a Heutenant in the English army in the wars of the 
Netherlands, with his friend and companion-in-arms. Lord 
Thomas Fairfax, who was in General Sir Horace de Vere's com- 
mand at the siege of Bois-le-l)uc from April to July, or about five 
months in 1630. 

He was of good descent and a young man of promise, which 
is indicated by the fact that, after the outbreak of civil war be- 
tween King Charles I. and Parliament, Sir Thomas Fairfax, when 
made Commander-in-chief in 1645, addressed a letter to Major 
Mason in America urging him to return to England, join his 
standard, and accept a Major-General's commission in the Parlia- 
mentary army. "The invitation was however declined, he being 
then much interested in laying the foundations of a new Colony." 
(Connecticut.) 

He came over "with other officers and many gentlemen of 
wealth and distinction," when the movement became general 
under the Charter of the Governor and Company of Massachu- 
setts Bay in New England. 

He was stationed at Dorchester in December of 1632, in an 
official capacity under the commission of the Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, and was also a Deputy from that town to the General 
Court. In September 1634 he was member of a board appointed 
to plan the fortifications of Boston Harbour, and was especially 
in charge of the erection of the works on Castle Island, one 
of the most important points. (Now Fort Independence.) 

His life in this country was passed in the following positions of 
honour and trust: 

Lieutenant and Captain at Boston and Dorchester, for several 
years. 

Conqueror of the Pequots, Magistrate and Major at Windsor, 

twelve. 

11 



12 A MASOX RECORD 

Commandant of the Fort and Commissioner of the United 
Colonies at Saybrook, twelve. 

Deputy-Governor and Assistant at Norwich, twelve. 

He was commander-in-chief of the forces of the colony of Con- 
necticut, the rank corresponding to that of major-general, and 
retained the position for the remainder of his Hfe, thirty-five years. 

He was one of the Patentees and named therein the Deputy- 
Governor of the colonial charter of 1662, granted by King Charles 
II, confirming to the "Governor and Company of the English 
Colony of Connecticut in New England in America" the title and 
jurisdiction of all the territory conveyed to the Earl of Warwick. 
This is the historic charter famous as being hidden and preserved 
from seizure in the old "Charter Oak" at Hartford during the 
usurpation of Sir Edmund Andross. The same is to be seen in the 
State House, upon proper application, where it is kept with great 
care. 

He prepared, at the request of the General Court of Connecticut, 
an account of the Pequot War, which was published by Mather 
in 1677, and reprinted from the original by Mr. Thomas Prince in 
1735 in more complete form, with the prefaces and some explan- 
atory notes. 

The State of Connecticut erected in 1889 a statue to commemo- 
rate the successful expedition of Major Mason and his command 
in 1637. It stands on the crest of Pequot Hill, near the west bank 
of the Mystic river, within a short distance of the location of the 
Indian fort captured and destroyed. 

The inscription on the panelled base is: 

ERECTED A.D., 1889, 

BY THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT, 

TO COMMEMORATE THE HEROIC ACHIEVEMENT OP 

MAJOR JOHN MASON 

AND HIS COMRADES, WHO NEAR THIS SPOT, 

IN 1637, OVERTHREW THE PEQUOT INDIANS, 

AND PRESERVED THE SETTLEMENTS FROM DESTRUCTION. 

"Major Mason was in person tall and portly, and in manner 
dignified. He was wise and prompt in planning, and energetic 



A MASON RECORD 13 

in executing, as a commander l)rave and self-reliant; and was 
equally distinguished for the purity of his morals and for his 
fearlessness in defending and maintaining the right." (j i 

He married, in July, 1G40, .Miss Anne Peck, who was born in-' 
1619, the daughter of the Rev. Robert Peck of Ilingham, Nor- 
folkshire, England. 

His wife died before him in Norwich. 

He died, 30 Jany., 1672, in Norwich, Conn., of which town he 
was a founder, and one of the largest proprietors in that country- 
side, and was there buried. The traditional place of his burial 
is at ]^oan Hill, near the south side of the Post Road. 

H.\D Issue as follows: 

Priscilla, b. Oct., 1641, at Windsor; m. in Oct., 1664, Rev. 

James Fitch of Norwich; d. about 1714. 
Samuel, b. July, 1644, at Windsor. 
John, b. Aug., 1646, at Windsor. 
Rachel, b. Oct., 1648, at Saybrook; m. 12 June. 1678, Mr. 

Charles Hill of New London; d. 4 April, 1679. 
Anne, b. June, 1650, at Saybrook; m. 8 Nov., 1672, Captain 

John Browne of Swansey, ]\Iass. 
Daniel, b. April, 1652, at Saybrook. 
Elizabeth, b. Aug., 1654, at Saybrook; m. 1 Jany., 1676, 

Major James Fitch of- Norwich, eldest son of Rev. James 

Fitch and Abigail Whitfield; d. 8 Oct., 1684. 

Rev. Robert Peck, M.A., "was a descendant of John Pecke, 
Gentleman, of Belton, Yorkshire, England, where the family were 
early seated and were one of much distinction and prominence 
among the gentry of influence." He was born in Beecles, Suffolk- 
shire, in 1580. He was graduated at Magdalen College, Cambridge, 
in 1599. 

He was instituted rector of St. Andrew's parish in Hingham, 
Norfolkshire, the 8 Jany., 1605, where he remained until 1638, 
when he came to Hingham, Massachusetts, and was made minis- 
ter of the church there on the 28 Nov., 1638. His wife and his 
son Joseph and daughter Anne came with him. He continued 



/9 



14 A MASON RECORD 

here about three years until the troubles in England ceased, when 
he returned the 27 Oct., 1641, and resumed his rectorship at 
Hingham. His wife Anne and son returned with him, his daughter 
remaining here, the wife of Captain Mason. He died at Hingham 
in 1656, and was buried under the choir of St. Andrew's church, 
"a noble structure, with a large and lofty tower containing eight 
musical bells." 

Gen. 1. MAJOR SAMUEL, the eldest son, was a man of prominence 

and distinction, and had great influence in the affairs of the 
Colony. 

He was commissioned lieutenant, 12 May, 1670; captain 14 
May, 1685, and promoted to the rank of major. 

He was often Deputy to the General Court, and for years chosen 
Assistant to the upper house. He was appointed on many 
courts of commission, and to other important positions. 

At a special court held at Hartford the 3 Sept., 1689, Captain 
Mason was selected with Deputy-Governor the Hon. James 
Bishop, Esquire, to meet with the delegates of the other colonies 
in Boston, and determine methods for the defence of New Eng- 
land. He was also one of the commissioners to meet with Rhode 
Island for defining the boundary line between the two colonies. 

He was one of the four proprietors by the original deed of 1692 
from Owaneco, son of Uncas, of the territory five miles square 
l3dng northerly of the town of Norwich, and called the "Five Mile 
Purchase." This land, increased by a second similar conveyance 
in 1702 from the Mohican chief to his brother Captain John Mason 
and his cousin James Fitch, with some lesser additions, after- 
ward formed the town of Lebanon. 

He married in June, 1670, Judith, b. in 1650, the daughter of 
Captain John Smith of Hingham, Mass., and had issue: 

John, b. 19 Aug., 1676; d. 20 Mar., 1705. 

Anne, who m. her first cousin. Captain John Mason, 3d. 

Sarah, who m., 2 Nov., 1703, her first cousin Joseph Fitch, 
Esquire, of Lebanon, a man of wealth and large land owner. 

He married again on the 4 July, 1694, Ehzabeth, b. 1657, dau. 
of Joseph Peck, Esquire, of Massachusetts, and had issue: 

Samuel, b. 26 Aug., 1695; d. 28 Nov., 1701. 



A MASON HECOHD 15 

Elizabeth, h. 6 May. 1007; in. 1."} Oct.. 1720, Rev. William 

Wortliington. 
Hannah, b. 14 Ai)l., Ui'.M); d. Nov., 1724. 

He clitHl 30 Mar., 17U5, at Stonington. 
His son John d. unmarried, thus leaving none of the name 
descendant in this line. 

Gen. 1. CAPTAIN JOHN, JR., the next son, early entered public life, 

being Deputy to the General Court for several years. He was 
chosen Assistant in May of the very year of liis decease. He was 
commissioned lieutenant 2G June, 1G72, and cai)tain tiie 15 Sept., 
1675. 

He was third in command of the Connecticut quota sent forward 
under Major Treat to join in the attack of the United Colonies on 
the Narragansetts in King Philip's War. He was mortally wounded 
at the Great Swamp Fight the 19 Dec, 1675, and was carried to 
New London where he lingered until his death the 18 Sept., 
1676. 

He married_Abigail, b. 5 Aug., 1650, dau. of the Rev. James 
Fitch of Norwich, and had issue. 

Captain John, 3d. b. 1673. 

Anne, who m. in 1690, Captain John Denison of Stonington. 

There is no complete record of the descent from this son. He 
m. 18 July, 1701, his first cousin, Anne Mason, dau. of Major 
Samuel, and again m. 15 July, 1719, Mrs. Anne Sanford Noyes, 
dau. of Governor Peleg Sanford of Rhode Island, and grand- 
daughter of Governor William Coddington of Newport, R. I. 
After several journeys to England where he had gone to prosecute 
the land claims under the Indian titles, he died in London in Dec, 
1736. 

Gen. 1. CAPTAIN DANIEL MASON, the youngest son, by whom is 

our descent, occupied in Stonington "an ample domain confirmed 
by the Colony to his father, near the borders of Long Island 
Sound." This estate comprised Chippacursett Island in ^lystic 
Bay, since then called ^lason Lsland, and a large tract of upland 
and meadow. He was commissioned quartermaster of the New 
London County Troop of Dragoons 17 Oct., 1673, in the twenty- 



V 



16 A MASON RECORD 

first year of his age; was lieutenant 9 Oct., 1701, and promoted 
to the rank of captain. 

While staying in Norwich, after the death of his wife in May 
of 1678, he filled for a short time, in 1679, the office of instructor 
at the newly established 'School on the Plain'. 

Upon his marriage with Miss Hobart he returned to Stonington 
as his permanent place of residence. 

He was closely identified with the interests of the town, repre- 
senting it at times as Deputy to the General Court, and was in- 
fluential in the affairs of the Colony. 

He married, in 1673, Margaret, b. 15 Dec, 1650, dau. of Mr. 
Edward Denison of Roxbury, Mass., and Ehzabeth, dau. of Captain 
Joseph Welde. 

Had Issue: 

Daniel, b. 26 Nov., 1674, in Stonington. 

Hezekiah, b. 3 May, 1677, in Roxbury, Mass., lived in Windham, 

Conn. He was m. twice and had a family of nine children — 

two were sons; he died 15 Dec, 1726. 

She died 13 May, 1678, in Stonington. 

Mr. Denison was born in Bishop-Stortford on the east border 
of Hertfordshire, where the family had long been seated. He was 
about fifteen years of age when his father William Denison, 
Escjuire, came over in 1631, having with him his wife Margaret 
and three sons, and as tutor in his family the Rev. John Ehot, 
afterwards the translator of the Bible into the Indian language. 
He was a graduate of Cambridge University, and his sons were 
liberally educated and carefully bred. He brought with him 
considerable wealth, and settled in Roxbury, and was of great 
influence in the colony. 

Edward, who died 26 April, 1668, always resided in Roxbury 
w^here he was prominent and much respected, and a member of 
the General Court. Of a large family he left none of the name 
descendant; his son William, a clergyman and graduate of Har- 
vard, who died in 1718, being the last of the name in this line. 
His elder brother, Major-General Daniel Denison, married Pa- 
tience, dau. of Governor Thomas Dudley; he was highly dis- 
tinguished both in civil and military affairs in Massachusetts, 



A MASON KECOKU 17 

commanding the forces, was Speaker of the House, and for twenty- 
nine years an Assistant. His youngest brother, Captain George, 
went back to Enghind for active service in the army, and after 
several years returned to become one of the mf)st noted soldiers 
of Connecticut, in her early settlement. 

He married again, 10 Oct., 1679, Rebecca, b. 9 April, 1054, dau. 
of Rev. Peter Hobart of Hingham, Mass., and had issue: 

Peter, b. 9 Nov., 1680; m. 8 July, 1703, Miss Mary Hobart. 
Rebecca, b. 10 Feby., 1682; m. 6 Feby., 1707, Elisha Chese- 

brough, Esquire. 
Margaret, b. 21 Dec, 1683. 
Samuel, b. 11 Feljy., 1686. 
AniGAiL, b. 3 Fein-., 1689. 

Priscilla, b. 17 Sept., 1691; m. 25 May, 1710, Theophilus 
Baldwin of Stonington. His grandfather was Henry Bald- 
win, Esquire, who held the Manor of Dundridge in Aston- 
Clinton, Buckinghamshire, England. 
Nehemiah, b. 24 Nov., 1693, m. 9 Jany., 1722, Zerviah, b. 20 
Sept., 1704, dau. of Joseph and Margaret Chesebrough Stan- 
ton of Stonington. He d. 13 May, 1768. He was the owner 
of Mason Island, Mystic, Conn. 

She died the 8 Apl., 1727. 
He died 28 Jany., 1737, at Stonington, and was there buried. 

The Rev. Mr. Hobart was the son of Edmund Hobart of Hing- 
ham, Norfolkshire, England, who came over about 1635, and was 
one of the early planters of Hingham, Mass., and a Deputy to 
the General Court. He graduated at Magdalen College, Cambridge 
in 1626, and was ordained in 1627, by the Right Rev. Joseph Hall, 
D.D., Bishop of Norwich, having for some years different charges 
in care, the last being the parish church at Haverhill, Suffolkshire. 
He had identified himself with the Puritan ideas, and this sub- 
jected him to a feeling of hostility with the clergy. He determined 
therefore to come to America whither members of his family had 
preceded him. He was noted for his acquirements as a scholar, 
and for his independence of character. A tablet to his memory 
is in the church at Hingham, Mass., where he died 20 Jany., 1679. 
Right Rev. John Henry Hobart, D.D., Bishop of New York 



18 A MASON RECORD 

1811-1S30, "one of the great thinkers of his times, a ready writer, 
a forcible speaker," was his great-grandson. 

Several branches of the Hobart family have been settled in 
this country since early in the seventeenth century, notably in 
Massachusetts. Sir John Hobart, third baronet of his Hne, mar- 
ried a daughter of the patriot John Hampden, and his grandson 
was created Earl of Buckinghamshire, the title of the present chief 
of the family, by King George I. 

Hampden House, the family seat of the Hobarts in Bucking- 
hamshire, is full of relics and souvenirs of John Hampden, to whom 
the estate formerly belonged, and on the failure of whose male 
line these estates passed to the Hobarts. Among such is the 
family Bible of Oliver Cromwell, in which records are inscribed 
in his own hand. Cromwell was often a guest at Hampden House 
in the days of John Hampden, who not only shared his political 
opinions, but was also a near relative. The mansion is a grand old 
place, and the oldest part dates back to the times of King John 
and Magna Charta. 

From the eldest of these sons Daniel, the issue by his first wife, 
Margaret Denison, comes the Lebanon, Conn., family, the Boston 
familv, and our own descent.' The descent from the other sons 
does not engage interest while tracing our direct line. 

There have come down in the different branches of the lines of 
these two sons of Major Mason, men of marked mental abihty, 
influence, position and wealth, in the learned professions, as well 
as in the regular army, and in commercial life. 

Gen. 2. MR. DANIEL MASON, 

m. 19 ApL, 1704, Dorothy, b. 21 Aug., 1679, dau. of the Rev. 
Jeremiah Hobart, M. A. of Haddam, Middlesex Co., Conn., and 
EHzabeth, dau. of Rev. Samuel Whiting and Ehzabeth St. John, 
of Lynn, Mass. Rev. Mr. Hobart was the son of Rev. Peter 
Hobart, and was -born in Hingham, England. He received his 
degree at Harvard College in 1650, and was ordained to the 
ministry of the Congregational Church. Hi« last charge was in 
Haddam, Conn., where he died in March, 1717. 



A MASON l{i;<(ll{l) 19 

Mr. Mason was well etlucated, and of indopoiulcnt means, and 
occupied an estate in the " Five Mile I'urchase'' in which territory 
the family relation then held laif^e interests. He was active and 
influential in the various civil duties connectetl with the inc(jr- 
poration, by act of the General Court in 1700, of the town of Lel>- 
anon, where he died early in life on the 7th May, 17U5, and was 
buried in Stonington. 

His Only Child Was: 

Jeremiah, b. 4 Mar., 1705, in T^clianon. 

His widow afterwards married Hon. Hezekiah Brainerd, a man 
of eminence. He was Speaker of the Deputies, and was an 
Assistant in the upper house of the General Court, "who in- 
trusted him with many public concerns." Jonathan Edwards 
writes of him as "the worshipful Hezekiah Brainerd, Esquire, 
one of His Majesty's Council for that Colony." 

Her third son was Rev. David Brainerd the missionary to the 
Indians, who presented the walking cane I have in my posses- 
sion to his half-brother Jeremiah Mason. A sister of Mrs. 
Dorothy married 'Hezekiah Wyllis, Esquire, Secretary of State of 
the colony of Connecticut, which office was held by three genera- 
tions in his family in uninterrupted succession for ninety-eight 
years. 

Gen. 3. JEREMIAH MASON, ESQUIRE, 

m. 24 May, 1727, Mary, b. 28 Dec, 1705, dau. of Mr. Thomas 
Clark of Haddam, Conn., and Elizabeth Leonard. Mr. Clark 
was the son of William Clark, Esquire, one of the original pro- 
prietors and first residents of that town, and afterwards an 
officer in King Philip's War. They are spoken of among the 
early settlers as "of an excellent stock" and "a very reputable 
family." 

Until he was of age he passed the years with his mother in Mr. 
Brainerd's family, receiving a liberal education, and the care and 
advantages which so prominent a position conveyed. She is 
described as "a lady of very attractive person, of refined taste, 
fine intellect, and ardent piety." She died 11 Mar., 1732. 



20 A MASON RECORD 

He resided in Norwich West Farms, now Franklin, where he was 
of recognized character and abihty. 

His name often appears upon the records of the town, and 
always in relations that show him to have occupied a leading and 
influential position ultimately identified with its interests. 

He died in the year 1779, and his wife d. 11 ApL, 1799. 

Had Issue: 

Daniel, b. 1 July, 1728; d. 13 Nov., 1730. 

Jeremiah, b. 21 Feby., 1730. 

Dorothy, b. 6 ApL, 1732; m. 10 Jany., 1750, Colonel Joseph 
Marsh, Lieut-Governor of Vermont, and three times elected 
to that position. He was one of the two delegates from 
Cumberland County to the Provincial Congress assembled 
in 1776 in New York City. Col. Marsh was commissioned 
in Jany., 1776, as commander of the "Upper Regiment" 
of Vermont. He was one of the Council chosen in 1785 from 
the ablest men of the state to revise the constitution of 
Vermont. 

Daniel, 2d, b. 10 ApL, 1735; d. 11 Mar., 1752. 

Mary, b. 22 Dec, 1736; m. 15 ApL, 1756, her second cousin, 
Nathan Huntington, son of David Huntington, Esquire, of 
Windham, (who was grandson of the first Simon Huntington 
of Norwich) and Mary Mason his wife. The Right Rev. 
Frederick Dan Huntington, D.D., Bishop of Central New 
York, is of this descent, his father, the Rev. Dan Huntington, 
born in Lebanon, and residing in Hadley, Mass., being the 
great-grandson of Simon of Norwich. Daniel Mason, who 
married Eunice Huntington, the aunt of the Bishop, was own 
cousin of David Mason (Gen. 5) ; their fathers were brothers. 

Anna, b. 3 Mar., 1739; m. 27 Sept., 1759, William Whiting, 
M.D., of Great Barrington, Mass., an eminent physician, 
grandson of Rev. Samuel Whiting of Boston, England, and 
Lynn, Mass., and Elizabeth St. John, sister of Sir Oliver 
St. John, chief justice of the Common Pleas during the time 
of the Commonwealth. In the memoir of the life of her 
daughter, Mrs. Mary Anna Boardman, the wife of Hon. 
Elijah Boardman, United States senator, she is referred to 



A MASON' UKCOUD 21 

thus: "Inheriting; not u little of the characteristic energy of 
her great forefather, Ainia Mason was erect in figure and active 
in movement; ami with her auburn tresses, Ijright hazel 
eyes, antl distinctly marked features, that interpreted with 
great expressiveness the operations of her vigortjus, active 
and sagacious mind, she was, altogether, a remarkable woman, 
whose influence in society and the domestic circle could not 
fail to lie l)oth felt and recognized." 

David, h. 2 Nov., 17 IL'. 

Elizabeth, b. 27 Aug., 1744; m. in 17GS, the Hon. Theodore 
Sedgwick of Shefheld, afterwards of 8tockl)ridgc, Mass. 
. He was a graduate of Yale College, and was called to the bar 
in 1766. He was a member of the Continental Congress from 
1785-87, was United States senator from 1796-99, and presi- 
dent pro-tem of that body in 1798. He had been a representa- 
tive upon the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and was 
again elected in 1799 a representative in Congress, and was 
chosen Speaker of the House. He was appointed a justice 
of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in 1802, and held 
the position until his death the 24 Jany., 1813. His judicial 
opinions were remarkal)le for clearness of expression and 
elegance of diction. She was his first wife, and died s. p. 
in May, 1771, some three years after her marriage. 

(Theodore Lewis M. was named for him.) 

Gen. 4. COLONEL JEREMLAH MASOX, 

m. 9 May, 1754, his third cousin, Elizabeth, b. 28 June, 1731, 
dau. of Captain James Fitch of Lebanon, Conn., and Anne, dau. 
of Captain Robert Denison of Montville. 

The colonel was an officer in the army of the Revolution. 
His epitaph says: "He was an ardent friend to his country; 
this he particularly evidenced by his exertions during her struggles 
for Independence." He owned a large estate, and equipped at his 
own expense, and commanded a company of Minute Men which 
did duty at the siege of Boston. His command was with the de- 
tachment sent out in the early part of the night to fortify Dorches- 
ter Heights. 



22 A IMASON RECORD 

In the autumn of 1776 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, 
and at the head of a regiment joined the army in the vicinity of 
New York City. He continued in command of his regiment 
until the close of the war. When General Arnold made the as- 
sault upon and burnt New London, he handled his regiment with 
such skill and address as to receive special mention. After the 
British withdrew, Colonel Mason was placed in command of Fort 
Trumbull, at the mouth of the harbour, for some months, until 
the excitement had passed away. 

He resided at Lebanon where he d. 16 ApL, 1813. 
His wife d. 16 Dec, 1809. 

Had Issue: 

Abigail, b. 22 Jany., 1755; m. 17 May, 1781, Andrew Fitch, 

son of P. Fitch of Preston, and Elizabeth Choate. 
James Fitch, b. 13 Dec, 1756; d. 26 Sept., 1759. 
Elizabeth, b. 20 Jany., 1759; m. in 1786, her third cousin, 
Judge John Griswold Hillhouse of. New London, son of 
Judge William Hillhouse. He was a member of the legis- 
lature, and judge of the county court. 
James Fitch, 2d, b. 19 Feby., 1761. 
Anna, b. 27 June, 1763; m. Christopher Raymond. They had 

three children. 
Jeremiah, b. 27 ApL, 1768. (of Boston) 
Daniel, b. 13 Sept., 1770. 
Rhoda, b. 20 ApL, 1773; m. Mumford Dolbeare. They had 

six children. 
The Fitch family was one of distinction in our Colonial annals. 
The Rev. James Fitch, the first minister in Saybrook and Norwich, 
the grandfather of Captain James, was born in Bocking, Essex, 
England. At the age of sixteen he had entered college at Cam- 
bridge, when he came over in 1638, the youngest of three sons, with 
his mother, a widow, to this country. He then passed seven years 
under the instruction of those eminent divines, the Rev. Mr. 
Hooker and his assistant the Rev. Mr. Stone, both graduates 
of Emanuel College, Cambridge, of which the former was a Fellow, 
and both regularly ordained clergymen of the Church of England, 
though afterwards silenced by the Spiritual Court for non-con- 



A MASON RECORD 23 

formit}'. Mr. Fitch was ordained at Saybrook in lOlG, the Rev. 
Mr. Hooker jiresiding at "this ceremony, with the imposition of 
liands by those appointed to that olHce — the same form was always 
useil, — and was a Congregational ordination in the strictest sen.se 
of the term." 

He was considered a man of great learning and i>iety. His 
penetration of miiid as well as energy caused liim to be often 
consulted in civil affairs. 

Priscilla, the dim. of Major Mason, was his second wife, his 
first being Al)igail, the dau. of the Rev. Mr. Whitfield of Guilford. 

He had a lai-gc family. His sons were prosperous and extensive 
land owners, and prominent in the public service, and "the 
daughters are said to have been very hantlsome, attractive and 
accomplished lathes." Among his descendants at the time of 
the Revolution there were a number who sided with the mother 
country, and went to Canada or London to live. Several were 
very distinguished men in both the civil and army life of the 
English government. 

Gen. 4. CAPTAIN DAVID MASON, 

m. 2 Dec, 1762, Susanna, b. 28 ApL, 1742; dau. of Joshua West, 
Esquire, of Lebanon, and Sarah, dau. of Mr. John Wattle and 
Judith Fitch. 

He inherited the property in Franklin upon which he resided 
for many years. Thence he removed, in 1794, to land he had 
purchased in Hartford, Washington County, New York. 

He was on active duty during the period of the Revolution, 
and besides being patriotic in his personal service, was liberal 
in the use of his estate to that end. 

He d. 15 Nov., 1804 in Hartford, and was there buried. 

His wife d. 

Had Issue: 

Wealthy Ann, b. 13 Sept., 1763; d. 9 ApL, 17S7. 
Sarah, b. 3 June, 1765. 
Daniel, b. 19 Sept., 1767. 
David, b. 18 July, 1769. 



24 A MASON RECORD 

Elizabeth, b. 2 Dec, 1771; m. 17 Jany., 1798, Philander 
Lathrop, son of Simon Lathrop, Esquire, of Ontario County, 
New York. "She is remembered as a woman of culture and 
much personal worth." 

Mary, b. 30 Sept., 1774; m. in Nov., 1806, Judge Wattle. 

Susan, b. 25 Dec, 1777; m. 21 Mar., 1804, John Clark Parker, 
counsellor-at-law, son of Peter Parker, Esquire, of Washing- 
ton County, New York. 

Anna, b. 11 May, 1779; m. 9 Nov., 1809, Judge Obadiah 
Noble of Tinmouth, Vt., son of Rev. Dr. Noble. 

Cynthia, b. 3 Sept., 1781; m. in Dec, 1808, Judge Nathaniel 
■^ Hall of Whitehall, New York. 

Joshua West, Esquire, was prominent in the public services 
expected of one in his station of life at that day. He was fre- 
quently a deputy to the General Court, and selected to act on courts 
of commission and chosen to other important positions. At the 
session of the General Court in May, 1775, he was made a member 
of the first Committee of Safety appointed to advise with the 
governor. This committee consisted of nine of the most noted 
men of affairs in the colony. He always lived in Lebanon, 
where he died 9 Nov., 1783. His tombstone is in the Old 
Cemetery. 

The West family of New England was originally from Wher- 
well, in Hants or Hampshire, near Andover, where, in 1587, 
William West, Lord De La Warre, was lord of that Manor. Sir 
Thomas West, Lord De La Warre, was the first governor and 
captain-general of Virginia under the charter of 1609; and 
Francis West, brother of Lord De La Warre, was admiral of New 
England in 1607, and in Dec, 1627, was appointed to succeed 
Sir George Yeardley as governor of Virginia. The ancestors of 
those of the name came to New England and Virginia in 1633 
and 1635, and lived in different parts. Matthew West who was 
at Lynn, Mass., in 1636, and at Newport, Pi. I. in 1646, is the 
ancestor of the West family whose descendants lived in Stoning- 
ton and neighbouring towns. 



A MA><).\ ICHOJUJ 25 

Gen. 5. JAMi:.S 1 rR'lI MASON, 2(1., 

111. 10 Dec, 17S9, Nancy, h. 2G M:iy, ITOO, dau. of Joseph Fitch, 
Esquire, of Montville, and Sarah Gardner. 

.Mr. Mason was an extensive land holder, and inherited a large 
estate from his father. 

He resided at Leljanon, where he died 7 May, 1835. 
His wife d. 10 .June, 1832. 

Had Is.sue: 

Elizabeth Fitch, b. 10 Oct., 1790; m. 12 Sept., 1812, Judge 
Elisha Waterman of Lebanon. 

Nancy Fitch, b. 10 Nov., 1792; d. 4 Sept., 1850. 

Jeremiah, b. 4 Mar., 1795; d. 7 May, 1886, unm. He was one 
of the largest and most successful farmers in Lebanon. He 
was much esteemed among his friends and neighbours for 
his kindly disposition and consistent character, and his 
judgment and advice were of influence in public affairs, and 
often sought with confidence in private matters. 

James Fitch, b. 1 May, 1797; d. 25 May, 1836; graduate of 
Yale College in 1817. 

Sarah, b. 27 ApL, 1800; d. 9 Apl., 1866. 

Alfred, b. 20 Jany., 1803; d. 13 Oct., 1862. 

William, b. 20 Dec, 1805; d. 28 May, 1840. 

Edward, b. 16 Dec, 1808. 

Gen. 5. HON. JEREMIAH MASON, LL.D., M.C., 

m. 6 Nov., 1799, Mary, b. 20 Oct., 1777, dau. of Colonel Robert 
Means of Amherst, New Hampshire, and Mary, dau. of Rev. 
David McGregor of Londonderry, N. H. 

He graduated at Yale in 1788. After devoting several years to 
the study of the law in the office of the Hon. Stephen Rowe 
Bradley of Vermont, he was called to the bar in that state in 1791. 
He was recognized as the head of his profession in a state whose 
bar was then unequalled in this country. He was Attorney 



26 A MASON RECORD 

General for the state in 1S02, and was elected to the United 
States Senate in IS 13. He was one of the foremost debaters in that 
body, his speech dehvered in 1814 on the embargo being especially 
powerful. But he was before everything else a great lawyer. He 
soon tired of politics, and in 1817 resigned his seat in the Senate 
to resume the practice of his profession. He afterwards served 
for a number of terms in the New Hampshire Legislature, where 
his time was given largely to revising and codifying the state 
laws. It was he who framed for the Legislature its report on the 
Virginia Resolutions with regard to the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise, and the state enjoyed in many other directions the 
benefit of his legal learning and sagacity. 1832 he removed to 
Boston. There he was retained in many great cases, and main- 
tained, until his age compelled him to retire, the high repute he 
had won elsewhere. His was one of the most acute legal minds 
in America, and Robert C. Winthrop speaks of him as being 
"generally regarded as the greatest lawyer of his day in New 
England." 

Webster, who had abundant occasion to conceive a respect for 
Mason's abiUties while they were both engaged in the trial of 
cases at the New Hampshire bar, does not exaggerate in giving 
his estimate of him in the eulogy pronounced before the Supreme 
Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Boston, he says: "Of my own 
professional discipline and attainments, whatever they may be, 
I owe much to that close attention to the discharge of my duties, 
which I was compelled to pay for nine successive years, from day 
to day, by Mr. Mason's efforts and arguments at the same bar": 
and he adds, "The characteristics of his mind, as I think, were 
real greatness, strength, and sagacity. He was great through 
strong sense and sound judgment"; and further in his tribute to 
Mason that, " his career was marked by uniform greatness, wisdom 
and integrity." 

Rufus Choate in his address moving the resolutions unanimously 
adopted at a meeting of the Suffolk County bar, said of him, 
"in a profound knowledge of jurisprudence, far reaching discern- 
ment and sound judgment, and in some of the most choice quali- 
ties of a forensic speaker he had in this whole country few equals, 
and probably no superior," and that "his powers of mind were 



A MASON HECiJUD 27 

not only so vast, but so peculiar; his character and influence 
were so weighty, as well as good; he filled for so many years f-o 
conspicuous a place in the profession of the law, in public life, 
and in intercourse with those who gave inimetliate direction to 
public affairs, that it appears most fit that we sh(jul(l attempt 
to record somewhat permanently and completely our appre- 
ciation of him"; antl "of whom it may l)C said that, without 
ever holding a judicial station, he was the author and finisher of 
the jurisprudence of a state; one whose intellect, wisdom and 
uprightness gave him a control over the opinions of all the circles 
in which he lived antl acted, of which we shall scarcely see another 
example, and for which this generation and the country are the 
better to-day." 

Referring to Mason's presentation of certain questions, Mr. 
Justice Story said: "His expositions of Constitutional Law are 
a monument of fame far beyond the memorials of political and 
military glory." 

He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard, 
Dartmouth, and Bowdoin Colleges. 

He d. 14 Oct., 1848, and was burietl in Mount Auburn. 
His wife d. 10 ApL, 1858. 

Had Issue: 

George Means, b. 3 Oct., 1800; d. 16 Aug., 1865, unm. 

Mary Elizabeth, b. 18 May, 1802; d. 29 Apl., 1859. 

Alfred, b. 24 Mar., 1804; d. 12 Apl., 1828, unm. 

James Jeremiah, b. 13 June, 1806. 

Jane, b. 17 Aug., 1808; d. 25 Mar., 1890. 

Robert Means, b. 25 Sept., 1810. 

Charles, b. 25 July, 1812. 

Marianne, b. 20 Feby., 1815; m. 5 June, 1838, Royall Alta- 
mont Crafts of New Orleans. He d. 25 May, 1864. James 
Mason Crafts, an eminent chemist, with many foreign deco- 
rations, formerly president of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, is their son. She afterwards m. in 1S71, 
Commodore Francis B. Ellison, U. S. X., an accomplished 
officer, and commissioned as commodore in July, 1862, during 
the Civil War. She d. 21 Jany., 1897. 



28 A MASON RECORD 

Colonel Means, Mrs. Mason's father, a wealth}- and influential 
resident of Amherst, N. H., was one of the most widely known and 
distinguished merchants in the state. He was a representative 
in the General Court, also served in the senate, and was a mem- 
ber of the executive council. His dau., Mrs, Nancy Means Ellis, 
became the second wife of Hon. Amos Lawrence of Boston. 

Gen. 5. DANIEL MASON, 

m. 28 Mar., 1798, Eunice, b. 14 Jany., 1769, dau. of Captain 
William Huntington of Lebanon, and Bethia, dau. of Captain 
Dan Throop and Susanna Cary. He resided in Lebanon, where 
he died 26 Mar., 1828. 

His wife died 22 Mar., 1857. 

Had Issue: 

Bethia Huntington, b. 8 Mar., 1800; m. 11 Mar., 1824, John 
Wattle. 

Eunice Elizabeth, b. 4 Mar., 1801; m. 19 Sept., 1832, Joseph 
Ambler. 

Mary Lyon, b. 28 June, 1802; m. 23 Apl., 1834, Charles Hub- 
bard Dutton, M.D. He graduated at medical department 
of Yale College in 1826. He practiced his profession until 
ill health compelled a change of climate, when he went to 
Charleston, S. C, where he died 30 Mar., 1836. 

Rhoda Louisa, b. 18 Mar., 1804; m. 25 Oct., 1842, Rev. 
Nathan Strong Hunt, A.M. He was a graduate of Williams 
College in 1830, and of Andover Seminary in 1833. His 
worth and usefulness as a good preacher and faithful pastor 
were well known. 

Julia Ann, b. 10 Oct., 1805; d. 26 Oct., 1896. 

Wealthy Fitch, b. 10 Mar., 1807; d. 25 Dec, 1830. 

John Grisw^old Hillhouse, b. 8 Aug., 1808; d. 28 July, 1829, 
unm. 

Abby Jane, b. 28 Dec, 1811; d. 25 Sept., 1886. 

Captain William Huntington was a graduate of Yale College 
in 1754. He was a man of note and influence in Lebanon, where he 
died 31 May, 1816. 



A MASON' lUXOUD 29 

'rii(> Huntington family, from the earliest records of the colo- 
nial period of Connecticut, have always occupied a prominent 
I)art in the civil and social movements of the day. They are a 
numerous and widely spread posterity, many with names dis- 
tin<i;uished in the professions and business interests ncjt only of 
this continent, but extensively associated with affairs of similar 
import in the old country. 

Gen. 5. DAXIKL MASON, ESQUIRE, 

m. 17i)l, Deborah, b. 1770, dau. of Simon Lathro[), Esfjuire, of 
Ontario County, New York, and Hannah Davis. 

He resided on the property in Hartford, Xew^ York, where he 
was higiily respected in all his j)ul)lic and social relations, and 
filled many important positions with fidelity and ability. 

He was chosen Moderator at the first meeting of electors, in 
Apl., 1794, and was the first supervisor of the town elected to 
that office. 

He died the 2 May, 1812, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and 
was there interred. 

His wife died in IS 17. 

Had Issue: 

Daniel, 1). 1793; d. May, 1878, in Hartford, unm. 
David Lathrop, b. 7 May, 1799. 

The Lathrops are descended from the Lothropps of Lowthorpe, 
in the East Riding of Y'ork, about N. E. from Great Driffield. 

The ancestor in this country was the Rev. John Lathrop or 
Lothrop, who was born 20 Dec, 1584 in Etton, Y'orkshire. 

He was a graduate of Queens College, Cambridge, taking his 
M.A. in 1609. and in 1611 was curate of St. James church parish, 
in Egerton, Kent, 48 miles from London. He became minister 
of the first Congregational church organized in England, in London 
Cit}', and when that was suppressed, and he hatl been imprisoned 
for some time, he came over in 1634 to New England, where he 
was minister of the church in Scituate, Mass., and afterwards in 
Barnstable. 



30 A MASON RECORD 

Gen. 5. DAVID MASON, 

m. 4 Nov., ISOl, Mary Elizabeth, b. 4 Aug., 1780, dau. of Rev. 
Isaac Lewis, D.D. of Greenwich, Fairfield County, Conn., and 
Hannah, dau. of Matthew Beale, Esquire, an English gentleman. 

He graduated at Williams College, Mass., 7 Sept., 1796, and 
received his degree of M.A. in course, the 4 Sept., 1799, having in 
the meantime read law under the direction of Senator Sedgwick 
and been called to the bar. He was prominent in his college 
relations. He was a commencement orator at the graduation of 
his class, and was selected to deliver the Master's Address at the 
conferring the degree of M.A. by President Fitch. 

He was a man of cultivated tastes and social nature, with a 
charm of manner that rendered him most agreeable to meet, and 
closely attached those with whom he was brought into intimate 
intercourse. He had a most felicitous address, and the art of 
expressing himself in language that was remarked for its clear 
and polished diction. 

A lawyer of ability he was well read in the principles and 
practice of the law, and acute and logical in its application and 
presentation. As an advocate he had especial influence. He was 
frequently retained to represent corporate as well as private 
interests in the highest courts of the State. 

Though devoted to the interests of his profession, he gave 
some attention to the politics of the day, being pronounced in 
his support of the principles and policy of the Federalist party, 
and at times taking part in presenting its claims in written articles 
and otherwise, with terse, forceful argument, that always attracted 
attention and received consideration. 

He resided for some years in Cooperstown, where he was en- 
gaged in practice with Mr. Wilham Cooper, the son of Judge 
Cooper, and an elder brother of James Fenimore Cooper. 

He removed to Montgomery, Orange County, in 1806. 

The latter part of his life he suffered much in health, and died 
suddenly 11 Oct., 1821. His remains were interred in the old 
Walkill churchyard. 

His wife died 6 Oct., 1867, in Greenwich, where she had resided 
since his death, and was there buried. 



A MASON ijKCf)iu) ;;i 

His tom1)stono was then set up in the jjiivute graveyard in 
Clreenwich. 

Had Issi'e: 

Theodohk Lkwis, 1). ;!() Si-pt., ls();>. in CoopcM'stcnvn. 
John West, b. 'A July. ISOo, in ("ooperstown. 
Marv Elizaheth, 1). Hi Fohy., 1SU8, in Montgomery; <1. '2G 
Apl., 1838, at CJroenwicii. 

Rev. Dr. Lewis, Mis. .Mason's father, was 1)orn in liipton 
Parish. iStratford. whither his great-grandfather, l)y jirofe.ssion 
an architect, anil who designed the okl Congregational church 
in Fairfiekl, the first EngUsh clmrch in the city of New York, and 
several others in this country, had come from l-^ngland in 1(575. 
He graduated at Yale College in 1765, studied theology, and was 
ordained in Mar.. 176S. After preaching in Wilton for some years, 
he was instituted minister of the Congregational church in Green- 
wich in October, 1786, continuing in charge of that parish for more 
than thirty years, when increasing age led him to resign its care. 
He resided there until his death, 27 Aug., 1840, in his ninety- 
fifth year. He was of commantling presence, six feet in height, 
well proportioned, a strong man physically, mentally and morally. 
His influence in the community was most extended, and he was 
highly respected by all classes and greatly venerated in his old 
age. He was distinguished among his compeers for his learning 
and executive ability, and esteemed for his liberality of disposi- 
tion and uprightness of life. A circumstance which indicates his 
high standing in literary circles is that the corporation of Yale 
College in considering a successor to Doctor Stiles in the presi- 
dency in 1795, determined in their choice upon either Dr. Lewis 
or Dr. Timothy Dwight. At the final election by the Fellows 
Dr. Dwight received one more vote than Dr. Lewis, upon which 
Dr. Lewis moved to make the choice unanimous, which was done. 
The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him l)y 
Yale College in 1792, and in 1816 he was made a Fellow of the 
Corporation. He was chaplain to the regiment of Colonel Philip 
B. Bradley while stationed at Bergen during the Picvolution, but 
after seven months of service, from May to December, 1776, was 



32 A MASON RECORD 

brought so low with camp fever that he was not expected to 
recover, and resigned his commission. 

Gen. 6. EDWARD MASON, 

m. 22 Jany., 1833, Phylura 0., b. 4 Jany., 1814, dau. of Edmund 
Stiles of Lebanon, and Wealthy, dau. of Col. Josiah Loomis. 

He d. 30 Mar., 1847, in Franklin, and was there buried. His 
wife m. again, and d. 13 Oct., 1860, in Lebanon. 

Had Issue: 

James Fitch, b. 22 Dec, 1833. 

Nancy Fitch, b. 20 Aug., 1835. 

George Edward, b. 10 Mar., 1838; d. 10 ApL, 1842. 

William Alfred, b. 4 Sept., 1842; d. 2 May, 1862, in the 

Civil War, at Newberne, N. C; a member of the 8th Reg. 

Conn. Vol. In. 
Jeremiah, b. 20 Oct., 1845; d. 20 Feby., 1846. 

Gen. 6. JAMES JEREMIAH MASON, 

m. 22 Jany., 1835, Elizabeth Frances, dau. of Hon. Israel Thorn- 
dike, of Boston, and Sally, dau. of Harrison Gray Otis. 

He was born in Portsmouth, N. H. He attended the Exeter 
Academy, completing the usual course at that institution. He 
then entered the counting-room of Messrs. James W. Page & Co. 
of Boston. On attaining his majority, he engaged in business on 
his own account, but soon had advantageous offers to go into the 
commission business in New York City. His residence there, 
however, was short. The eminent house in which he commenced 
his career, had received impressions so favourable to his ability 
and capacity in his business relations, that they soon sent for 
him to return and become a partner with them; in which con- 
nection he remained active until the time of his death. He had 
the confidence of older men to a remarkable degree. 

He d. 13 June, 1835, a few months after his marriage, without 
issue. 



A MASON KECOUU 33 

His widow afterwanl.s in. Thcoclorc Oelrifh.s uf iiifiuen, Cler- 
nuxny. 

Israel Tliorndiko, Jr., li. in Doc, 17X5, was the son of Colonel 
Israel ThormliUo of Hevt-ily, Mass. Ho was nuMiihcr of a number 
of the prominent societies and clubs, and in the later years of hi.s 
life, a resident of New York City where he dieil in Mar., 1SG7. 
His father was one of the most noted merchants of New England 
and accumulated, chiefly iu the East India and China trade, a 
large property; was a member of the convention called for the 
adoption of the Constitution of the United States — and was very 
liberal in his gifts to Harvard. 

Mr. John Tlu)rndike of Beverly, the first of the family in New 
England came to Boston about 1032. He was fifth in descent 
from William Thorndike, lord of the Manor of Carlton, Lincoln- 
shire. He went to England in 1688 intending to return, but died 
in London in 1G90, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster 
Abliey. His brothei-. Rev. Herbert Thorndike, Prebendary of 
Westminster, was one of the most profound and distinguished 
scholars in England during his life. Paul, his only son, born 
in 1662, married and settletl at P>everly. In every generation 
from the time of their ancestor, they have held positions of im- 
portance and prominence. 

Gen. 6. ROBERT MEANS MASON, 

m. 4 Dec, 1843, Sarah Ellen, b. 17 May, 1819, dau. of Ebenezer 
Francis of Boston, and Elizabeth, dau. of Israel Thorndike of 
Beverly, Mass. 

He was educated at the Portsmouth Academy and the Gardiner 
Lyceum in Maine. Deciding that his vocation was for mercantile 
rather than for professional life, in 1827 he entered the office of 
his brother James in Boston. Thence he went to Philadelphia, 
and in 1881 he removed to New York City. Retiring from the 
firm of Stone, Swan & Mason, he formed the co-partnership of 
Otis & Mason and was actively engaged until 1841, when the 
connection was dissolved by mutual consent, Mr. Mason continu- 
ing the ])usiness by himself. 



34 A MASON RECORD 

In 1843 with his friend and connection Amos A. Lawrence, 
he founded the house of Mason & Lawrence of Boston, afterwards 
widely and favorably known throughout the country, and thus 
established himself in that city, which had become since 1832 the 
family home. 

He was not a demonstrative person, and though no one could 
be more cordial to his intimates, he had a natural reserve of man- 
ner to the outer world. Yet such was his reputation for scrupu- 
lous integrity combined with singularly sound and accurate 
judgment, that few men were oftener applied to for advice in 
matters of moment, and the opinion of few men have better stood 
the test of time. 

A man of the most exact and methodical habits, he had a 
great dislike of extravagance and waste, and enjoyed setting an 
example of simplicity of daily life in town and country so far 
as could be made consistent with a large establishment and an 
overflowing hospitality. 

He was a thorough American. All his life long he had loved 
his whole countrj^ — New England the best — but with forbearance 
and good will for other sections. No one however, was more 
ardent in the cause of maintaining an undivided republic, and 
restoring the authority of the Federal Government over the 
seceding States. 

So far as in him lay he did his best to correct the false impres- 
sion prevailing in Europe as to the nature of the contest, and he 
had an interesting correspondence with the French statesman 
Montalambert, an English translation of whose pamphlet "La 
Victoire du Nord aux Etats Unis" was circulated at Mr. Mason's 
expense. 

He was to his friend Charles Francis Adams, one of the most 
effective aids in the Trent affair, the opportunity for which 
influence his wealth and the foreign connections of his wife's 
family enabled him to exercise. There Avas no personal or pecuni- 
ary sacrifice he would not have made to maintain the Union, 
but while according a general support to the administration, and 
making every allowance for the difficulties which beset it, he was 
far from yielding an unthinking assent to every feature of its 
policy. He became treasurer of the Massachusetts Soldiers' 



A MASON' UKCOUD 35 

Fuiul, to which, as well ii.s to the various other funds, he was one 
of the earliest and largest contributors, and learning that the 
government was unpreparcil to meet the pressing demand for 
hospital accommodation, he placed his former home in Pemberton 
Square at the disposal of the authorities. In the course of the 
three following years more than seventeen hundred invalid sol- 
diers were received and careil for in this mansion, Mr. Mason 
declining to accept any compensation save the thanks of the War 
Department conveyetl in a very complimentary letter from the 
Surgeon-General. 

In the management of his own property, and that of many 
important trusts, he exhibited the same untiring industry, mature 
deliberation, wise counsel, and prudent action. 

He was a director of the State Bank, President of the Salmon 
Falls ^Manufacturing Company and a director of the Cocheco 
Company. 

He was a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of 
Massachusetts, a delegate of the Diocese to the General Convention 
of the Church, and was chairman and treasurer of the Finance 
Committee when that Convention met in Boston. 

He was a director of the Church Home for Orphans and Des- 
titute Children, an institution founded by his brother Charles, 
and liberally remembered in his will. 

He was a visitor of the Theological Sciiool at Cambridge, and 
for many years senior warden of St. Paul's church, Boston. 
His wife d. 27 Sept., 1865, at Dieppe in France. 

He d. 13 Mar., 1879, in Savannah, Ga., and was buried in Mount 
Auburn, Cambridge, Mass. 

The funeral services, attended by a large assemblage including 
the venerable Bishop of New York, Dr. Potter, took place in St. 
John's Chapel, Cambridge. 

This chapel, one of the buildings of the Episcopal Theological 
School, he had built in 18G9 as a memorial to his wife and brother 
Charles. The same has become the subject of some verses by 
Longfellow. 

On the Sunday after Mr. Mason's death. Bishop Paddock 
towards the close of an impressive sermon at St. Paul's, spoke of 
"the profound sense of loss which this Church, the Clergy of the 



36 A MASON RECORD 

City, and the Diocese in its charities antl missions, and many 
good causes elsewhere felt in the sudden departure of a man of 
so eminent characteristics." 

The memoir prepared by Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., upon a reso- 
lution of the Massachusetts Historical Society gives further an 
extended review of his life. 

Had Issue: 

Elizabeth, b. 1 Oct., 1844; m, 1 June, 1869, Robert Charles 
Winthrop, Jr., son of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, LL.D. 
He was a descendant of the distinguished John Winthrop, 
whose address and influence at the court of Charles II. ob- 
tained for the Colony of Connecticut the Royal Charter of 
1662, in which he is named the Governor, and Major John 
Mason Deputy-Governor. He graduated at Harvard in 1854, 
and was in attendance at the Law School until 1856, when 
he entered the office of Leverett Saltonstall, Esquire. He 
was admitted a member of the Suffolk bar in 1857, but 
never practiced. The early years of his life w^ere passed 
chiefly in European travel. To literary interests he at 
intervals devoted close attention, and the re-arrangement 
of the large and valuable collection of Colonial Mss. 
known as the Winthrop Papers, occupied much of his time 
at different periods. Aside from the assistance he constantly 
rendered his father in his numerous undertakings, he pre- 
pared and had printed papers on different subjects, besides 
several memoirs of prominent members of his owm family, 
or those connected with it. He was an active member of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society of which both his father and 
grandfather had been presidents. He was for many years a 
trustee of the Boston Athenaeum. He had become a mem- 
ber of the Somerset Club immediately after graduation, and 
also was a member of the famous "Wednesday Evening 
Club of 1777." He d. in Boston, 5 June, 1905, the funeral 
taking place from St. John's Memorial chapel at Cambridge. 
They had three children, — two daughters, and one son, 
Robert Mason Winthrop, who is connected with the United 
States legation in Rome. A memoir prepared by Charles 



A MASON HK'OKI) 37 

Francis Adams for ihe Massacliusftis iii>i»tiiijal Society, was 
ri'priiilod for private (listril)Uti()n. .Mr. W'iiithrop in. in 1S.'>7, 
for his first wife, Miss Frances Adams, who (h s. j). about 
two years and a half after their marriage. 

Ellex Fhaxcis, 1). 21 June, IS-IG. 

Alfred, b. 15 Mar., 1S5U; d. 12 Fcby, IS.')?. 

Anna Fkancis, b. 18 Jany., isr)2; d. 2 Nov., ISOf). 

Clara Thorndike, b. 2G Feby., 1.S51; d. 23 Sept., 18GS. 

Ida Means, b. G Jany., 1S5G. 

Ebenezer Francis was a leading mercliant of Boston, and a man 
of large jiroperty. He was tiie son of Colonel Francis of Beverly, 
an enterprising and valueil citizen of that place, who fell at the 
head of his regiment in one of the early actions of the Revolution- 
ary war, near Whitehall, New York, and "who united in himself 
the qualities of a brave and accomplished officer, and an ardent 
patriot." Mr. Francis' education had been limited to the ordinary 
branches taught in the common school of that (hiy, and in 1787, 
when only eleven }'ears of age, he went to Boston and entered 
the counting-room of a prominent merchant, where he rapidly 
qualified himself to enter business on his own account, which he 
did before the age of twenty-one. He was calm and deliberate 
in judgment, bold and decided in action and singularly indifferent 
to public opinion, after making up his mind according to the dic- 
tates of his conscience. But he w.as remarkably courteous in 
manner, mild and affal^le in deportment, and always the gentle- 
man in the best and highest sense of that word. For some years 
he was treasurer of Harvard College, and in many ways took an 
active interest in the affairs of the university. While commercial 
organizations occupied so large a share of his attention, he did 
not forget those of a philanthropic nature, and was influential 
in his administration of the different offices he at times occupied, 
in connection with some of the best endowed cliaritalile institu- 
tions in New England. He was a Unitarian, though far from 
being narrow and sectarian in his feelings. He d. 21 Sept., 1858, 
in the eighty-third year of his age. 



38 A MASON RECORD 



Gen. 6. REV. CHARLES MASON, D.D., 

m. 15 June, 1838, Susannah, b. 23 May, 1817, dau. of Hon. Amos 
Lawrence of Boston, and Sarah, dau. of Giles Richards of 
Dedham. 

He graduated at Harvard University in 1832, studied at the 
General Theological Seminary in New York City, and was received 
into the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church in July, 
1836. He was instituted rector of St. Peter's church, Salem, Mass., 
in May 1837, continuing in care of that parish for ten years, when 
removing to Boston he became rector of Grace church. Temple 
St., in Sept., 1847, where he remained until his death. 

He was a man of a strong and well cultivated mind, was an 
earnest and able preacher, of uncommon excellence and 
generosity of disposition, exemplary in all the relations of 
life, and died distinguished alike by private affection and public 
regard. 

In the memoir of the Rev. Dr. Mason prepared by his friend 
and former instructor, Rev. A. P. Peabody, D.D., and quoted by 
George S. Hillard in his memoir of Hon. Jeremiah Mason, he says, 
"The most delicate courtesy governed him in all the relations 
of life. His mental action was distinguished by precision, just- 
ness and accuracy. Neither emotion, prejudice, nor enthusiasm, 
suppressed or disturbed the judicial faculty. 

"Thoroughly a Churchman by conviction, taste and sympathy, 
he was still more profoundly a Christian, and while he never 
swerved from loyalty to his own Church, his relations with clergy- 
men and Christians of other communions "were cordial and 
intimate." 

Robert C. Winthrop speaks of him as "one of the most eminent 
and useful of the Clergy of the Diocese." 

The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by 
Harvard University in 1858, and he received the like degree from 
Trinity College, Hartford, the same year. 

A mural tablet at the Chancel in St. Peter's Church, Salem, reads 
as follows: 



A MASOX l{i;('((Kl) 39 

IN MEMOHIAM 

THE REVEREND 

( IIAHLES MASDN, S.T.I). 

THE EAITIIEUL PRIEST, THE LEARNED SCHOLAR, 

THE STEADFAST FRIEND, THE CHRLSTIAN GENTLEMAN. 

BORN AT PORTSMOUTH, N. H., 25 JULY, 1812. 

GRADU.VTE HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 1832, 

RECTOR OF THIS PARISH 

FRO.M 1st may, 1837 TO 1st may, 1847 

RECTOR OF GR.\CE CHURCH, BOSTON, MASS., 
FROM 3d SEPT., 1847, TO THE TIME OF HIS DEATH 

23d march, 1862. 



"be ye THEREFORE READY ALSO; FOR THE SON OF MAX 
COMETH AT AX HOUR WHEN YE THINK NOT." 

ERECTED BY HIS LOVING PARISHIONERS 
A. D. 1864. 



Had Issue: , 

Susan Lawrence, b. 25 Aug., 1839; m. 17 July, 1866. Fitch 
Edward Oliver, M.D., son of Dr. Daniel Oliver, a member 
of the faculty of Dartmouth College, and lecturer in the 
medical school of that institution. 

He was a graduate of Dartmouth in 1839, and received the 
degree of M.D. at the Harvartl Medical School in 1843. where 
he afterwards (1860-70) was an instructor in Materia Medica. 
He devoted more than a year to study and travel in Europe 
before beginning the practice of medicine in Boston in the 
autumn of 1844. The degree of M.A. was conferred upon 
him by Trinity College, Hartford, in 1860. He was promi- 
nent in connection with many of the notable medical insti- 
tutions and organizations of Boston, and in addition to his 
professional work devoted considerable time to literary 
pursuits. He was a member of the corporation of the Church 
of the Advent for forty-five years, and was its senior warden 



40 A MASON RECORD 

at the time of his death. He died S Dec, 1892. They had 
six children, two daus. and four sons. 

Amos Lawrence, b. 20 ApL, 1842. 

Mary, b. 22 Nov., 1844; m. 6 Jan5%, 1870, Captain Howard 
Stockton, U. S. A., son of Lieutenant Phihp Augustus 
Stockton, U. S. N., and for a time Consul-General to Saxony. 
He was a graduate of the Royal Saxon Polytechnic, Dresden. 
He was in active duty. Ordnance Corps, U. S. A. until 1867. 
He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1871. Since 
then he has held high official positions in connection with a 
number of wealthy business concerns, and acts as trustee 
for many large estates. He is a vestryman of St. Paul's 
church and active in diocesan interests. Mrs. Stockton d. 
27 July, 1886. The}' had four daus. and three sons. 

Sarah, b. 22 Nov., 1844; m. 15 Oct., 1868, Hasket Derby, M.D., 
son of Elias Hasket Derby, who studied law with Daniel 
Webster, and later became eminent as a railroad lawyer. 

He graduated at Amherst College in 1855, and took the 
degree of M.D. at Harvard in 1858, after which he spent 
three or more years abroad in study. He has long been well 
known as one of the foremost oculists, and was at one time 
lecturer on Ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School. 
He has written numerous articles in the periodicals devoted 
to the subject, and is the author of leading publications. He 
is a member of various medical organizations at home and 
abroad. They have had eight children — one a dau. 
His wife died 2 Dec, 1844. 

Mr. Lawrence was a wealthy merchant whose business opera- 
tions were conducted with great success, and aided largely in the 
establishment of manufactures in New England. He and his 
brother were heavily interested in the manufacturing corpora- 
tions in the town of Lawrence, which was named in their honour. 
His naturally benevolent disposition led him to devote much 
time and attention to charitable purposes, and he was a liberal 
benefactor of Williams College, Kenyon College, the Academy at 
Groton, and the Theological Seminary at Bangor, Maine. His 
private benefactions were almost innumerable. 



A MASOX UKCOUD 41 

Hon. Al)h()tt LruvroiU'O, LL.l)., his hnillicr, ua^ Minister to 
Kufihuul for sovoial years, where he entertained in London witli 
nuieh splendor, and received the most fhitterinf^ attentions. He 
founded and endowed at Harvard University a .scientific depart- 
ment, calletl in his honour the Lawrence Scientific .Schooh 

Right Kev. WiUiain Lawrence, D.D., liishoj) of >Lissachusett.s, 
and before then Dean of the C'amhridge Epi.scopal Theological 
School, is his grandson. 

The ancestor of the family in this country was .lohn Lawrence 
born in Wisset, Suffolkshire, 1-jigland, a lineal descendant of Sir 
Kobert Lawrence of Ashton Hall, Lancasiiire. He came to New 
England, a young man, about 1630, and lived in Watertown, 
i\Iass., from whence he removed to Grot on, where he d. in .luly, 
1601. 

Rev. Dr. Mason m. for his second wife, 9 Aug., 1S4<.», .-\nna 
Huntington, b. 15 Dec, 1821, dau. of Hon. Jonathan Huntington 
Lyman of Northampton, Mass., and Sophia, dau. of Judge Samuel 
Hinckley. 

Had Lssue: 

Anna Sophia Lyman, b. 4 Oct., 1853; m. 4 June, 1873, John 
Chipman Gray, son of Horace Gray and Sarah Russell 
Gardner. Rev. Phillips Brooks performed the ceremony. He 
graduated at Harvard in 1859, and from the Law School in 
1861. He is a prominent memljer of the Boston bar. He has 
been Story Professor of Law in the Harvard Law School since 
1875, and Royall Professor of Law since 1883. His grand- 
father was William Gray, a well known and wealthy Boston 
merchant, a state senator and lieutenant-governor in 1810. 
Judge Horace Gray of the Supreme Court of the United States 
was a brother. 

The family name has been associated with many of the 
most progressive movements in the City, as the establishing 
the beautiful Public Gardens of Boston; and Gray's Hall at 
Harvard is named for Francis Colley Gray noted for his 
bequests to the college. They have two children, one dau. 
and one son. 



r 



42 A MASOX RECORD 

Charles Jeremiah, b. 25 Sept., 1855. 

Harriette Sargent, b. 2 May, 1858; m. 20 Sept., 1905, 
William Barbour Rodman of Lexington, Kentucky. He is 
the head of the Alaska Commercial Company at Tanana, 
Alaska. 

His wife died 21 June, 1883. 

]\Ir. Lyman, one of the most successful practitioners of the bar 
in his day, was highly distinguished in his profession of the law. 
At the time of his earh^ death he was Chief Justice of the Court of 
Sessions, and had been a state senator and representative. He 
was born in 1783, the son of Rev. Joseph Lyman, D.D., of Hat- 
field, Mass., and Hannah Huntington. His father was one of 
the best known and most influential of the Congregational clergy 
in New England. 

He was a graduate of Yale College in 1802. He lived in North- 
ampton, where he died in 1825. He was a descendant of Richard 
Ljanan, one of the original proprietors of Hartford, who came from 
England in November, 1631, through his son Richard who d. in 
Northampton, Mass., in 1662. 

The Lymans were descended from an old Saxon family, inheri- 
tors of large estates, prior to William the Conqueror, being line- 
ally descended from Thomas Lyman of High Ongar, Navestock, 
Essex, who married Elizabeth, a great heiress, dau. of Sir Odel- 
phus Lambert, grandson of Lambert, Count of Loraine and Mons, 
a kinsman of the Conqueror. The Lyman estates were confis- 
cated by King Harold when he usurped the throne, but some of 
the same were afterwards, through this influence, restored by 
order of William. 

Gen. 6. DAVID LATHROP MASON, 

m. 27 Oct., 1827, Asenath Slocum, b. 21 Feby., 1805, dau. of 
Major Joseph Taylor of Hartford, Washington County, New York, 
and Lydia, dau. of Levi Adams. 

He resided in Binghamton, N. Y. where he was engaged 
in business interests for many years, and there d. the 26th 
June, 1839. 



A MASON UKCOliU 4ii 

Had Issuk: 

Daniel David, b. 26 Aug., 1829; d. 21 -Muy, 1853, uiua. 

Joseph Taylor, b. 29 Juny., 1835. 

Lydia Asenath, b. 20 Aug., 1837; in. 2G June, 1801, HurdsuU 

J. Lewis; he d. in Oct., 1S67. .She aft(M-\v;ir(l.s in. I'.l May, 

1SS5, Judge Lyniau Hall Xorthup. 

His willow in. in 18-13, Cary Baker. She d. ;{ .June, 1n7S. 

Major Taylor resided in Hartford, and t)\\ned .several tracts 
of farm and tiniberland in Wa.shington County which he managed. 
He was prominent in public affairs, ])eing held in much esteem by 
his neighbours for exceptional executive ability. He was looked 
upon as a wealthy and influential man. He was tall and large, 
of fine physique, with a strong personality, and had a full and 
very flexible voice which had great carrying power when u.sed. 
He was 2nd Major in Lieutenant-Colonel James Green's 
regiment. His commission dated 11 Feby., 1811, is signed by 
Governor Tompkins, whose respect and intimate acquaintance 
he enjoyed. His regiment was engaged in the battle of Platts- 
burgh, where the American troops, under General Macomb, 
defeated the English forces, while at the same time the British 
squadron on Lake Champlain was compelled to surrender by 
Commodore Macdonough, the two battles being fought .simul- 
taneously, in sight of each other. He was b. 5 Apl., 1767, in 
Concord, Mass., and d. in Hartford, New York, in the sixty-ninth 
vear of his age. 



*&^ 



THEODORE LEWIS MA80X, M. D., 

m. 26 Dec, 1833, Katharine Van Vliet, h. 26 Dec, 1814, dau. of 
Peter DeWitt of New York City, and Janet, dau. of George Gos- 
man. 

He received a thorough English and classical education, and 
then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York 
City, registering his name as student of medicine in the oflfice of 
the celebrated Dr. David Hosack. His degree of Doctor of 
Medicine was conferred on the 29th Mar., 1825. 



r 



44 A MASON RECORD 

He practiced for a few years in Wilton, Conn., and for a short 
time remained in New York, but in 1834 removed to Brooklyn 
as his permanent home, in which city he was a practicing physi- 
cian and surgeon for nearly fifty years, and for more than a 
generation distinguished in his profession. His name is associated 
with the organizations that have given character to the city, and 
his marked executive ability was, to a large extent, the reason of 
their being, and the life of their development. He had a keen 
intellect, a read}'' discernment, and sound judgment; prompt of 
decision ^yhere action was required in any of the relations of life, 
his energy and resource were unfailing. The dignity of manner 
which marked his intercourse in the varying interests of his 
position, and the courtesy and cheerfulness of disposition which 
always influenced him, commanded the respect and regard of all. 

He w^as especially qualified for the performance of surgical 
operations, and although he successfully pursued both a medical 
and surgical practice, his skill and ability more frequently ex- 
pressed themselves in the latter branch of his profession. 

He became a member of the Kings County Medical Society, 
and was twice elected President, for the years 1842 and 1843. 

He was influential in framing the charter of the Brooklyn City 
Hospital founded in 1845, and in the selection of its board of 
directors, of which he was President, and of the medical staff, and 
as Senior Consulting Surgeon was active in its service until his 
health compelled him to tender his resignation. 

In 1858 several leading physicians of Brooklyn, including Dr 
Mason, devised the plan of establishing there a medical school 
with the advantages of a hospital in connection. It resulted in 
the organization of the Long Island College Hospital, the first 
medical school in the United States to make practical and success- 
ful use of this principle. He was not only actively engaged in 
perfecting the plan of organization, and in devising and exe- 
cuting the preliminary details, but his useful counsel and firm 
determination were of invaluable assistance in the prosecution 
of the design. He was one of the incorporators, and was chosen 
by his colleagues the first President of the Collegiate Department, 
continuing such until a j'ear before his death, a period of twenty- 
one years. 



A MASON RECORD 4') 

Duiiii<; the Civil War he was cxtrcMiicly active in directing the 
care of the sick and wounded men of the army and navy sent 
from the front to the Long Island College Hospital for medical 
treatment, and almost daily gave his i)ersonal attention to this 
patriotic work, evincing in his treatment of these defenders of 
their country his entire and warm sympathy with the cause for 
which they suffered. 

He was early identified with those interested in promoting a 
reform in the then defective sanitary regulations of the cities of 
New York and Brooklyn, and in 1864 by special request accom- 
panied a committee of "The Citizens' Association of New York" 
to Albany as one of the medical members to urge upon the Legis- 
lature the passage of a metropolitan health bill. It numbered 
among its members the most influential citizens and members of 
the medical profession in New York City. 

On the enactment of the measure, and the appointment of a 
Metropolitan Board of Health for the district comprising the 
three counties. Dr. Mason was nominated by a large number of 
the most prominent and respectable medical, professional, and 
mercantile residents of the city, for Health Commissioner of 
Brooklyn. He accepted the nomination, but finding the contest 
for the appointment was assuming a purely political aspect he 
withdrew, not wishing to engage in a competition of that nature. 

He was one of the incorporators, and the first President of the 
Inebriates' Home for Kings County established in Ma}', 1866. 
As consulting physician he was most active and efficient in the 
organization and oversight of this institution. 

He was one of the founders in 1870 of the American Association 
for the Cure of Inebriates, and in 1875 was chosen President, 
retaining the position for several successive years. 

He frequently prepared papers upon this subject in its various 
aspects, and one of his addresses entitled "Inebriety a Disease" 
was afterwards published and extensively noticed abroad as well 
as in this country, being quoted as authority in the British House 
of Commons in arguments urging the establishment of inebriate 
homes in Great Britain, and exerted no small influence on the 
Continent among those who were giving thought to the cure of 
intemperance. 



r 



46 A MASON RECORD 

He was a permanent member of the Medical Society of the 
State of New York, and his name is conspicuous in many impor- 
tant measures connected with the society. 

He was also a member of the American Medical Association, and 
a Resident Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. 

He was a delegate to the International Medical Convention 
held in Philadelphia in 1876. 

He was one of the incorporators, a life member, and a director 
of the Long Island Historical Society. 

In 1874 he was elected one of the vice-presidents of the 
American Colonization Society of which he had been a member 
for some years. 

For a few years Dr. Mason attended the Henry street Presby- 
terian church, Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox, but his earl}^ life having 
been closely associated with the worship of the Congregational 
Church, his preferences were strongly inclined thereto, and when 
it Avas determined by a number of those of similar views to establish 
such a church in the city of Brooklyn, he was made chairman of 
the committee that organized the Church of the Pilgrims in 1844, 
in which position he was most energetic and efficient in influen- 
cing the Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs to become its minister. 

The latter part of his life he was a member of the Reformed 
Dutch Church, and prominently identified with its interests. 

A memoir prepared by Alfred De W. Mason was printed for 
private distribution. 

His wife d. 11 June, 1859. He d. 12 Feby., 1882, and was 
buried in the private graveyard in Greenwich, Conn. 

Had Issue: 

Mary Elizabeth, b. 26 Oct., 1834; d. 27 Jany., 1842. 
Jaxet Duncan, b. 23 Jany., 1836; d. 7 Jany., 1842. 
Peter DeWitt, b. 27 Oct., 1837; d. 31 Dec, 1841. 
Katharine, b. 22 Sept., 1839; d. 3 Feby., 1842. 
Theodore West, b. 9 Mar., 1841. 
Lewis Duncan, b. 21 Jun., 1843. 

Edward DeWitt, b. 7 July, 1845; d. 26 Feby., 1900, unm. 
He graduated at the University of the City of New York 



A MASON UECOHU 47 

in 18G4, ami afterwanl was engagetl in business for some years 
in New York City ami in lUiffalo, N. Y. He was of exact and 
niethoclical hal)its, which qualities he exhibited both in his 
private affairs and in tlie management of important financial 
trusts whicii he was called upon from time to time to admin- 
ister. He was a member of the Hamilton Club of lirooUlyn, 
of Altair Lodge No. GOl, F. and A. M. aiul of several similar 
organizations. He belonged to the Reformed Dutch Church 
and was connected with the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion of his native city. 

Elizabeth Duncan, b. 9 Jan}-., 1847; m. 13 Dec, LS6o, 
Clarence Alexander Blake, son of Alexander \'. lilake of 
Brooklyn, and Elizabeth Matilda Everinghim. He was 
educated at the Polytechnic in Brooklyn. A short while 
after leaving the Institute when a company of recruits for 
the Seventh regiment of New York was formed and sent in 
May of 1861 to Washington, he enlisted and went with them. 
Upon the return . of the regiment he remained, acting as 
quarter-master assistant under Captain Robert 0. Tyler, 
U. 'S. A. He came back in the autumn of 1861, taking 
service as lieutenant in tlie 103d New York Volunteers, 
which regiment very soon joined the army. He was with 
the regiment but a few months when he w^as appointed an 
aide-de-camp on the staff of Brigadier-General Nagle, with 
the rank of captain, on which service he continued for about 
a year, receiving honourable discharge in the winter of 1863 
for reasons of health. He was in all the severe engagements 
around Washington, and active on staff duty from Newberne 
until the brigade Avas again stationed near Harpers Ferry. 
His name. Captain Clarence A. Blake, appears on the roll of 
honor of the Seventh regiment, N. G. S. N. Y. of m3mbers 
who served during the war for the Union. For some time he 
was connected, in the New York office, with the concern of 
his uncle, George F. Tyler of Philadelphia. He eventually 
conducted business on his own account for a number of years 
in several connections. He was b. 12 May, 1842, and d. 16 
ApL, 1887. She has four children, one dau. and three sons. 

John, b. 1849; d. in infancy. 



48 A MASON RECORD 

Sarah, b. 20 July, 1851; d. in infancy. 
Alfred DeWitt, b. 21 Mar., 1855. 

Peter DeWitt was a prominent lawyer in New York City, 
practicing there from 1804 until the year of his death 1851. He 
Avas son of John DeWitt and Katharine Van Vliet of Duchess 
County, New York. He was especially noted for the success with 
which he conducted intricate questions in real estate interests, 
and his opinion in such matters was often sought as final in deter- 
mining many of the largest and most far reaching transactions of 
the day. His reputation for sound legal judgment, sterling integ- 
rity, and fidelity to the interests of his clients commanded 
the largest practice in that particular branch of any member of 
the bar. 

With him originated the custom of preparing for clients an 
abstract of title. During Mr. DeWitt's life time he associated 
with him in practice his sons Cornelius John, and Edward, and 
after their father's death they continued his business. 

Mr. Elbridge T. Gerry in his memorial notice of Edward DeWitt, 
speaks of him as "A man of singularly sound judgment and great 
quickness of perception, his modesty prevented him from exhibit- 
ing in the courts the elegant learning and scholarly attainments 
which were so peculiarly his own. Devoted to the study of the 
law, he loved it to the last. Indeed for years he has deservedly 
occupied the position of the safest chamber counsel at the bar, 
and of being one of the best equity lawyers in the State." 

In his address before the Supreme Court of the State in New 
York City moving that the Court do now adjourn out of respect 
for the memory of Cornelius John De Witt, the Hon. Clarkson N. 
Potter said, " He was the son of that distinguished lawyer and con- 
veyancer Peter De Witt, who began to practice in this city about 
the beginning of the present century. Although a well read, studi- 
ous, and competent lawyer, Mr. De Witt, like his brother Edward, 
had from natural modesty an aversion to the contests of the 
Forum — but he was none the less actively engaged in the dis- 
charge of grave professional duties which have connected the 
name of his firm with very many of the most important titles 
in our city. He was a man of such probity, amiabihty and intel- 



A .MASON HKCOlil) 49 

ligence as commanded the confidence of the coininunity, and will 
cause his loss to he felt hy many of our most worthy families, 
whose adviser or friend his father, l)rother, or hims(>lf had been 
for three generations." Mr. John S. Woodward in s(M-onding the 
motion remarked that "During a long pei-iod the l)e Witt family, 
commencing with the father, the venerable, learned and high- 
minded Peter De Witt, had borne a prominent and honourable 
part in the practice of those branches of the law more immediately 
connected with titles to real estate, trusts and wills, and none in 
the profession had repute for greater precision, care and diligence, 
high-toned integrity, and honour, than this family." The building 
8S Nassau St., ever since occupied as offices l)y his descendants 
in succession in the firm, was erected in 1.S.S4. 

JOHN WEST .MASON, 

m. 1S41, Hannah Turner, b. 20 Aug., ISOl, dau. of Andrew 
Gautier of Hanover, New Jersey, and Hannah, dau. of John 
Turner. 

He entered Yale College in 1828, and continued attendance, 
though always in delicate health, until a severe illness required 
his withdrawal a few months before the time of graduation. 

It had been his intention to enter the legal profession, but 
entire cessation from study, change of climate, and the freedom 
of country life were thought by his physicians to be needful for 
permanent benefit. He remained a short while at home, and in 
the summer of 1832 went to the W^est where he spent a year in 
different parts, eventually purchasing an estate of about a thous- 
and acres near Newark, Kendall County, Illinois, where he resided 
for upwards of fifty years. 

He was a man of scholarly mind and literary tastes, and owing 
to the almost complete deafness which came upon him in the most 
active part of his life, his chief relaxation during many years was 
in reading for direct information or mental stimulus. 

A master of the English language, he wrote or spoke it with 
equal facility and admiralile expression. A clever comprehension 
of what might be said, did nmch to replace in conversation the 
effect of his deafness. 



50 A MASON RECORD 

He was high-minded and generous in his impulses, and noted 
for his hospitahty. With a natural dignity he combined a most 
agreeable manner, and in his public as well as private relations 
of life was much respected and honoured. 

Though the difficulty of hearing interfered much with his 
public usefulness, he always evinced a keen interest in the develop- 
ment and importance of the State, contributing as he could thereto, 
and to the end of his long life he remained a man well known in 
his county. 

He was a prominent and efficient member of the Convention 
called in 1848 to revise the Constitution of the State. 

He was active in aiding to organize in Newark the first Con- 
gregational church established in that part of Illinois, and an 
influential member in furthering the growth of that communion. 
His wife d. 20 Oct., 1865, s. p. 
He d. 25 July, 1884, at his estate near Newark. 

The remains of both were interred in the private graveyard 
in Greenwich. 

Andrew Gautier was the great-grandson of Jacques Gautier, 
a French gentleman, the first of the name in New York City, who 
came to America after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
He was the descendant of a noble family of that name of Saint 
Blanchard, in the Province of Languedoc, France, and one of 
considerable prominence in the wars of the Huguenots. His 
family were among the early members of the Huguenot church 
L'Eglise du St. Esprit in New York City. They after^vards 
became parishioners of Trinity church in 1724, and members are 
buried in the family vault in Trinity churchyard. 

He was educated at Kings College, now Columbia, entering 
at the age of fourteen in 1769, and was a lawyer by profession, 
though not practicing. He was twice married, his first wife 
being Mary, the only child of Captain Thomas Brown of Bergen 
County, New Jersey. 

Gen. 7. JAMES FITCH MASON, 

m. 5 Nov., 1861, Frances Gay, b. 18 Apl., 1833, dau. of Samuel 
Hoxie of Lebanon. 



A MASON RECORD 51 

He resides in Franklin noai- Norwich, Conn. 

Had Lssue: 

William Alfred, 1). 25 Mar., 1868; m. 2G Jany., 1888, Mary 
Reed Gay, b. 15 Nov., 1S5S. He has several cliildrcn three 
of whom are sons, and resides in FrankHn. 

Frances Fitch, b. 12 Aug., 1871; ni. 16 Nov., 1893, Frederick 
Wa3dand Hoxie of Franklin. 

Gen. 7. AMOS LAWRENCE MASON, M.D., 

m. 30 Sept., 187-4, Louisa Blake, 1). 9 Apl., 1852, dau. of Rear- 
Admiral Charles Steedman, U. S. N., and Sarah, dau. of James 
Bishop, and adopted dau. of Richard Ronaldson of Philadelphia. 

He graduated at Harvard L'niversity in 1863, and was for one 
year a student of law at the Harvard Law School and in the 
office of Mr. Horace Gray, who was afterwards a Judge of the 
Supreme Court of the L'nited States. 

He then engaged in literary pursuits until the spring of 1865, 
when he spent several years in European study and travel. He 
entered the Harvard Medical School in 1868, where he remained 
four years, during the last of which he was house-officer in the 
Massachusetts General Hospital, and received the degree of M.D. 
in 1872. After a year's study in Germany he returned to Boston, 
and since then has practiced his profession there. He has been 
for many years one of the medical staff of the great City Hospital 
of Boston, has served as one of the physicians of the Carney 
Hospital, Channing Home for Incurables, and Boston Dispen- 
sary; has held the positions of Clinical Instructor in Auscultation 
and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Harvard Medi- 
cal School, and is one of the Standing Committee on the course of 
study. He has been president of the Suffolk District Medical 
Society, and of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement. 
He has made several journeys to Europe for study and travel, 
and one to the Nile and Syria in 1867-68. 

Dr. Mason has written many articles for medical publications, 



52 A MASON RECORD 

including various papers on typhoid, typhus, and the acute 
fevers. 

His wife d. 3 Aug., 1908. 

Had Issue: 

Marion Steedman, b. 17 July, 1S75; m. 11 Mar., 1902, Richard 
Thornton Wilson, Jr., son of Richard T. Wilson of New York 
City and Melissa Clementine Johnston of Macon, Ga. He 
graduated at Columbia College in 1887. He is a banker, and 
has held the office of Commissioner of Municipal Statistics 
in his native city. He has residences in New York City, 
Newport and near Beaufort, S. C. They have two daus., 
Louisa Steedman and Marion Mason. 

Admiral Steedman was born in 1811 at St. James, Santee, S. C. 
He was the grandson of James Steedman who came to South 
Carolina from Ely, Fifeshire, Scotland, about 1768. James 
Steedziian was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. On his 
mother's side the Admiral was descendant from the Blake and 
Jeannarett families, the Jeannaretts being among the early 
Huguenot refugees. His grandfather. Captain John Blake, was 
also a Revolutionary officer of distinction. He was appointed 
midshipman in 1828. He was a gallant officer of great professional 
merit, and throughout his long period of service always exhibited 
a zeal and perserverance in every instance deserving of all praise. 
During the Mexican war he commanded one of the siege guns 
at the bombardment of Vera Cruz. He had commands in the 
Brazilian and Paraguayian expeditions. When the Civil War 
opened, though of southern birth. Commander Steedman re- 
mained loyal to the Government. He was on leave at the time, 
but volunteered to Admiral Du Pont for any service, and ren- 
dered great and timely assistance in keejoing open railroad com- 
munication between Washington and the North, commanding the 
gun boat Marjdand. Later he served in many important com- 
mands, aiding in the capture of the southern ports, and the 
blockade of Charleston. After being on special service for some 
time he was for several years in command of the Boston Navy 
Yard, and was placed on the retired list in September, 1873. His 



A MASON RECORD 53 

last sea iluty was as Roar Admiral coiiiitiand'ma: tho Soutli Pacific 
squadron 1872-7.'^. 

Gen. 7. T^KV. CIIAKLKH JKRKMIAII MASOX, 

m. 10 ^lay, 1S92, Angelina Augusta, h. 7 .luno, iSf)'), dau. of Hon. 
William Lawrence Merry of San Francisco, and Aletlicu Blan- 
chard, dau. of William Stewart Hill of New York City. 

He graduated at Harvard University in 1S79, studied for the 
ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Berkeley Divinity 
School, Middletown, Conn., where he received his degree in 1883, 
and was made deacon by liishop Padtlock of Massachusetts. 
He was received into the priesthood by Bishop Stevens of Penn- 
sylvania the following year. 

He is Rector of Calvary church, Stonington, Conn., of which 
parish he was instituted minister in May, 1906. Before then he 
was curate of St. Ann's, Brooklj^n Heights, for some six years; 
and previous to that at St. Mark's, West Orange, New Jersey. 

He formerly had been curate or assistant at St. Mark's, Berkele}', 
California, at Grace church, San Francisco, at St. James, Phila- 
delphia, at L'Eglise de St. Sauveur in that city, and at St. Anne's, 
Annapolis, Maryland. 

Had Issue: 

Blanche Lyman, b. 31 May, 1893. 
Harriet Sargent, b. 10 June, 1894. 
Charles Jeremiah, Jr., b. 26 Oct., 1899. 

Mr. Merry was member of a New York City family. He had 
commanded steamships in the California trade until the year 
1870; at which date he resigned from the Pacific Mail Steamship 
Company. 

He engaged in commercial interests at San Francisco until 
1897, when he was appointed United States Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary and Envoy Extraordinary to Costa Rica, Nicaragua and 
Salvador, with residence at San Jos6, Costa Rica. He has been a 
promoter of the Interoceanic Canal since 1872. 



54 A MASON RECORD 



Gen. 7. JOSEPH TAYLOR MASON, 

m. IS June, 1862, Mary Elizabeth, b. 24 Apl., 1842, dau. of John 
Darling of Conklin, New York, and Naomi, dau. of Rev. John G. 
Lowe. 

Had Issue: 

Lydia a, b. 11 Nov., 1865; m., 29 Oct., 1885, William Crawford 
Swanton, son of WilUam Swanton of Iowa City, Iowa. They have 
four children. 

George Daniel, b. 7 Oct., 1869; unm. (1903). 

Edward L., b. 7 May, 1887, d. 6 Aug., 1888. 

He died 28 July, 1896, in Binghamton, N. Y. 



Gen. 7. THEODORE WEST MASON, 

m. 5 Dec, 1865, Elizabeth Matilda, b. 22 Mar., 1845, dau. of 
Alexander Viets Blake of Brooklyn, and Elizabeth Matilda, dau. 
of Gilbert Everinghim of New York City, and Mary Woods Davis. 
The ceremony was performed in Grace church, Brooklyn Heights, 
by the rector the Rev. Dr. Eugene A. Hoffman, assisted by the 
Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton and the Rev. Dr. Greenleaf, the Right 
Rev. Dr. Whitehouse, Bishop of Illinois, giving the blessing. 

He graduated in the special course of study at the New York 
University in June of 1861, after which he entered the Law 
School in the city of Albany, receiving the degree of Bachelor 
of Laws in 1863 and was admitted to practice at a General Term 
of the Supreme Court in May of the same year. 

For a time he remained in the office of his uncles, Messrs. 
C. J. & E. De Witt. He became interested in business with his 
brother-in-law, forming the firm of Blake, Mason & Co. but 
eventually retired to a country life in Greenwich, Conn., where 
he has mainly resided since the spring of 1866. He and his 
family are members of Christ church parish. 

Had Issue: 
Katharine Maud, b. 2 Nov., 1867; m. 9 Dec, 1885, James 



A MASON mccoui) 55 

Pott, Jr., son of James Pott of New York City, and Josephine, 
dau. of the Rev. Francis L. II;i\\ks, I).l)., Id..l)., ;it (jnc 
time rector of St. Thomas church and afterwards of Calvary 
church, and esteemed very eloquent as a preacher. He is 
at the head of the old New Ynik publisliinp; house of James 
Pott & Co., established by his fatiiei-. Mr. Pott, who tl. in 
1905, had been treasurer of the Protestant ]<^pisoopal Diocese 
of New York for more than forty years, and (illed other 
important offices in the Church. Tliey are oi the Potts of 
Dodd and Knowesouth, Roxburgh, Scotland, estates that 
have long been in the family. The first of the name in this 
country was Gideon, the father of Mr. James Pott, who 
came over in 1805 to New York Cit}'. They have three daus., 
Maud Eleanor, Josephine Hawks, and Helen Mason. 

John Meredith, b. 17 Aug., 1S69. 

Theodora Evelyn, b. 15 Feby., 1871; m. 18 A\)\., 1907, 
Beach Adonijah Laselle, at the church of St. Edward the 
Martyr, New York City, son of Arthur W. Laselle of St. 
Albans, Vermont. He is a mining engineer and owner, and 
is engaged in developing certain interests in British Columliia. 

Albert Woods, b. 6 Nov., 1882; d. 18 Mar., 1884. 

' Mr. Alexander \. Blake was the son of Rev. Dr. John Lauris 
Blake, who was well known in the Episcopal Church and an 
author of repute. 

Mr. Blake was widely respected for his many excellent quali- 
ties, and was most pleasant to meet. In the various connections 
which his private and public relations of life brought him, there 
were many proofs of the unlimited confidence which was placed 
in his integrity and fidelity. He was prompt and decided in the 
dispatch of buisness, and exact in its methods and requirements. 
For a few years he was occupied as a publisher, but early in life 
became a member of the concern of A. B. & D. Sands & Co. the 
wholesale drug house, and for more than thirty years continued 
in that connection until the firm was dissolved. 

He had been identified with the Brooklyn Savings Bank for 
many years, first as Trustee, then as Vice-President, and subse- 
quently as Comptroller. He was a vestryman of Grace church,. 



56 A MASON RECORD 

and was the first treasurer of the Diocese of Long Island, being 
elected to that office continuously. 

Mr. Blake m. again in ApL, 1858, Maria Elizabeth, dau. of 
Edward Whitehouse of Remsen St., a prominent New York 
City banker. 

He had always been a resident of Brooklyn. He d. the 25 
June, 1881. 

Gen. 7. LEWIS DUNCAN MASON, M.D., 

m. 20 Dec, 1883, Mrs. Mary Frances Dickson, b. 10 June, 1845, 
dau. of Col. Isaac Donnom Witherspoon of Yorkville, South 
Carolina, and Ann, dau. of Col. Joseph Reid of Virginia. 

He graduated in the special course of study at the New York 
University in June of 1863, and entering the Long Island College 
Hospital in the city of Brooklyn, received the degree of M.D. in 
1866. 

He was appointed Attending Surgeon in the Out-Door-Depart- 
ment followed by the position of Adjunct Surgeon in the In-Door 
Department, and chief of surgical clinic. 

In the year 1875 he was appointed surgeon in full on the Hos- 
pital staff and instructor in surgery to the College classes. This 
last position he retained up to 1882, when he resigned his con- 
nection with the Long Island College Hospital. 

He became a member of the medical staff of the Inebriates 
Home at Fort Hamilton, Kings County, in 1866, as Visiting Physi- 
cian, and continued such to the year 1882. He was then appointed 
Consulting Physician, which position he filled until the spring of 
1894, when he retired from further connection with the institution. 

Since Jany, of 1894 he has been connected as head of the 
consulting staff with Ardendale, a private sanitarium near Brook- 
lyn for patients of the better class. 

Besides the time devoted to his official duties, a general practice 
has occupied his attention and, while influenced by his interest 
in the progress of medicine, his preference has always been for 
the science and practice of surgery. 

f He has been a frequent contributor to medical periodicals, 
and has also published several papers on surgical topics. 



A MASOX UKCOUI) 57 

He has writtiMi extensively on the effect (jf ah-ohul up<m tlie 
human system, including several addresses, prominent as present- 
ing tlie social statistics of cases, and the control and care of 
pauper inebriates in towns and cities. 

Some of his papers have been translated and have i-cccived 
much attention in France, Germany, ami Russia, besides being 
used in England for reference, and quoted there in works on the 
subject of inebriety. 

He is an honorary member of the Socidtd de Medicine Mental 
de Belgique, honorary member of the Society for the Study and 
Cure of Inebriety, London, England, and was one of the foreign 
vice-presidents of the Colonial and International Congress on 
Inebriety held in Westminster Town-hall, London, 6 July, LSS7. 

He is also a member of the British Medical Association. 

He was elected one of the vice-presidents of the American 
Society for the Study and Cure of Inebriety, and since Jany. of 
1891, has been President of the Societ}^ 

He is a Resident Fellow of the New York Academy of Medi- 
cine, the American Medical Association, and of the Medical Society 
of the County of Kings, Mce-President of the American Society 
for the Study of Alcohol and other Narcotics, and a memljer of 
the Committee on Criminology held in Chicago, 111. 

He is also a life member of the Long Island Historical Society 
and a life member and director of the New London Historical 
Society. He is one of the charter members and founders of the 
Rembrandt Club, established in 1880, an art club of 100 male 
members, and for the first three years of its organization was its 
secretary and historian. 

• He has always lived in the first ward, Brooklyn Heights, the 
place of his birth, and is an elder of the Second Presbyterian 
church; a director and Vice President of the Brooklyn City Mission 
and Tract Society, President of the Brooklyn City Bible Society 
and a director of the American Bible Society. 
His wife died 20 Oct., 1901. s. p. 

The Witherspoons were a prominent and influential family 
in South Carolina. For the third generation in succession to his 
father and grandfather, Col. Witherspoon was Governor of the 



58 * A MASON RECORD 

State. A distinguished member of the same family was Rev. John 
Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and for 
many years President of Princeton College. 

Gen. 7. REV. ALFRED DE WITT MASON, 

m. 18 Oct., 1883, Elizabeth, b. 21 Nov., 1860, dau. of James 
Swain of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Mary, dau. of Alexander Tully and 
Agnes MacArthur of Edinburgh, Scotland. 

He graduated at Amherst College in June of 1877. Entering 
the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church in New 
Brunswick, he graduated there in 1880, receiving the degree of 
M.A. from Amherst the same year. 

He was ordained in Oct., of 1880, and installed minister of the 
Reformed church in Locust Valley, L. I. In Nov., of 1882 he went 
to Brooklyn, being installed minister of the South Reformed 
church, where he remained in care of that church until Oct. of 
1891, when he removed to Boonton, N. J. as minister of the 
Reformed church there. 

In Jany. 1894 he was appointed as editor of "The Mission 
Field," the official magazine of the Mission Boards of the Re- 
formed (Dutch) Church in America, and later, as editorial secre- 
tary had charge of that and several similar Church publications. 

He was also appointed in 1896 as the first Corresponding 
Secretary of the Department of Young People's Mission Work of 
the Reformed Church, having charge of the missionary interests 
of that Church throughout her Sunday schools and young people's 
societies, and was one of the organizers and for some years 
the President of The Christian Endeavor Missionary League of 
that Church. He was also one of the original founders of the 
Young People's Missionary Movement, and was chairman of its 
first conference for some years as member of its Executive 
Committee. He is a member of the "Alliance of Reformed 
Churches throughout the World holding the Presbyterian System," 
and was a delegate to the Eighth General Council of the Alliance 
which met in Liverpool, Eng.,in 1904 and also to the Ninth 
General Council which met in New York City. He was also a 
Fraternal Delegate from the General Synod of the Reformed 



A MASOX RECORD 59 

Church to the General Assembly of the Pre.sbyt<?rian Churtli in 
the United States which met in Savanaii, Ga. For some 
years he has been Lecturer on the History of Missions in the 
Union Missionary Training Institute of Brooklyn N. Y. 

He is one of the editors of The Christian Intelligencer, the 
old established publication of the Reform Dutch Church. 

Had Issue: 

Janet De Witt, b. 21 Oct., 1SS4. 

Mary Elizabeth, b. 18 Oct., 1888; d. 26, June 1889. 

Alfred De Witt, b. 13 July, 1895. 

Mr. Swain was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1818, and came 
to Brookh'n, Xew York, in 1853, where he became engaged 
with the People's Gas Company, one of the oldest organizations 
of the kind in the city and with which he continued un- 
til his death. He was well known in the section where he 
lived, and was prominent in church affairs, being for over thirty 
years a deacon or elder in the Bedford Reformed church and 
was frequently a delegate to the Classes, Synods and other 
ecclesiastical courts of the Reformed Church. He d. in 1894. 



SHORT SKETCHES OF THE TWO 

GENERALS OF DISTINCTION 

WITH WHO:\I 

MAJOR MASON'S NAME IS ASSOCIATED 

IN HIS EARLY ARMY SERVICE. 



SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX. 

THOMAS, third Lord Fairfax, bettor known as Sir Tiiomas 
Fairfax the eminent ParHanientary general and com- 
mander-in-chief during the Civil wars, was the eldest son of 
Lord Ferdinand Fairfax and Lady Mary Sheffield, daughter of the 
Earl of Mulgrave. 

He was born 17 January, 1612, at Denton, on the Ixmks of the 
Wharfe, near Otley, Yorkshire. 

He was at St. Johns College, Cambridge, for about four years, 
1626-30, and went thence in April of 1630 to Holland, as vol- 
unteer with the English army in the Low Countries under Lord 
Vere of Tilbury. (Lieut. John Mason was his companion-in-arms 
at this time.) 

After the fall of Bois-le-Duc young Fairfax travelled into 
France, where he remained about eighteen months. He had not 
completely recovered from a fever caught during his service in 
the Netherlands, and soon becoming weary of an inactive life he 
arrived in London tn Februarn of 1GJ52. Thence he returned to 
Yorkshire, where he passed the next three years of his life in 
assisting his grandfather in the management of his estates. 

He married 20 June, 1637, Anne, fourth daughter of Lord 
^'ere. 

He was knighted b}' Charles I. in 1640, and came into the 
family title and estates on the death of his father in 1648. 

The Fairfaxes, though serving at first under Charles I., were 
opposed to the arbitrary prerogatives of the Crown and declared 
for the Parliament. Lord Fairfax was made general of the forces 
of the Xorth, his son Sir Thomas commanding the Horse under 
him. Sir Thomas rapidly rose in rank, and when the Earl of Essex 
resigned as commander-in-chief of the Parliamentary forces, he 
was appointed in his place on the 19 Fehruar;/, 1645. (It was at 
this time that Fairfax wrote to Major Mason to come l)ack to 
England and accept with him a general's commission.) 

3 



4 A MASON RECORD 

After Parliament had been established he resigned his com- 
mission in 1650, in disgust with the intrigues which ensued, and 
retired to his family estates during the whole time of the Common- 
wealth. 

He did not come forward again until he appeared at the head 
of a body of Yorkshii-e gentlemen in December of 1659, and such 
was the influence of Fairfax's name that many of the opposing 
forces quitted their colours and joined him. A free Parliament 
was called, and Fairfax was made member for Yorkshire. 

He was placed at the head of the delegates appointed by the 
House of Commons in 1660, to wait upon Charles II. at The Hague 
and urge his speedy return, and accompanied the restored sovereign 
to his coronation. The remaining years of his life were spent in 
retirement at his seat in Yorkshire. 

Lord Fairfax died at Nunappleton 12 November, 1671, and was 
buried in the choir on the south side of Bilbrough church. 

The old Yorkshire family of which he was the distinguished 
head, in succession, is long since extinct. The title as now borne 
comes through the inheritance by a younger line of the Scotch 
baronetcy of Cameron, once purchased by the grandfather of Sir 
Thomas. 



LORD VERE. 

General Sir Horace de Vere, Baron of Tilbury, was the son of 
Geoffrey de Vere, the third son of John, fifteenth Earl of Oxford, 
and was born at Kirby Hall, Essex, in 1565. 

He served with his eldest brother Sir Francis in the Nether- 
lands, and was prominent in the victory near Nieuport, and in 
the defense of Ostend (1602). In the reign of James I. he com- 
manded forces sent to assist the Elector Palatine. 

After the death of his famous brother in 1608, he was lord- 
general of the English forces in the Low Countries, and when the 
Prince of Orange invested the fortified town of Bois-le-Duc on the 
30 April, 1630, Sir Horace with his English contingent laid siege 
at two of the bastions. (It is here that Lord Fairfax and Lieut. 
Mason were with him.) 



A MASON KKCUUD 5 

He was the first per-st)!! raised to the peerage by C'luirli's 1. ami 
was master-general of the ordinance for life. 

He died 2 May, 1G33 in London, and was buried with imifli 
military pomp in Westminster Abbey. 

The noble English house of De \'cre, of which Lord Oxford was 
the chief, no longer exists. 



Bois-Le-Duc is the capital of the rrovincc of North I5rab:int, 
twenty-eight miles 8.E. of Utrecht. It stands at the confluence 
of the Dommel and the Aa, and is strongly fortified. 

Orginally a hunting lodge of the Brabant dukes, " Duke's Wood," 
it gradually increased, and in lisi was raised to the rank of a 
town, and surrounded with walls. Successive attempts made by 
the Netherlands to get possession of the town were futile; but at 
length in the summer of 1630 it was captured by the auxiliary 
forces after a five months siege. 



ADDENDUM. 

IN RELATION to Major Mason's ancestry, so far as I know 
at this date, no information has yet been disclosed. 

In the seventeenth century and later, when means of com- 
munication between the various countries were difficult at the 
best, there was not much correspondence to keep trace of 
home connections. 

All accounts on record in this country establish his position 
and associations in the old country. This brings the search for 
his paternit}' to the families of the name in England. There is a 
tradition with some of the family, though without knowledge of 
its source, that the Major came of a Shropshire family. 

A circumstance that might give consideration to this was the 
use in times past by certain ladies in the connection, of the Mason 
lion and the mermaid crest to paint with fancy free, or work in 
embroidery with the Fitch leopard. 

There came to hand about the time of the Bi-centennial Cele- 
bration of the Foundation of Norwich, a sketch in colour of two 
lions combatant, with the name of Mason, but the device was not 



6 



A MASON RECORD 



correct m neraiuic law, as it is considered that a lion cannot 
bear a rival in the field — and such having no record in the College 
of Arms can have no real existence. It had however the mermaid 
crest ppr. 

As to the family bearings, there is no doubt that the Mason 
charge is the Lion, though the arms of the several county families 
may vary in their quarterings, and the crest most used a Mermaid 
proper or in a tint. 




The drawings here given are of early records 
in the Harleian Mss. and copies of the same in 
the Heralds College, London. The dates in the 
brackets are the years of the Heralds' visitations. 



[A. D. 1622] 



The description is, "Or, a Lion rampant 
double tete, azure. Crest, a Mermaid, with 
comb and glass, ppr." 

They were the arms of Richardus le Mason 
de Minton Manor in Co. Salop A° 46 E. Ill 
(1373), of Mason of Delbury Hall, .Didlebury, 
and Sir Richard Mason of Bishops Castle in 
that county; and are the same borne with the 
name or in quarterings in different parts of 
England, from Yorkshire to Hants and from 
Middlesex to Shropshire. 



When I called on Rev. Scarlett Smith at the vicarage of St. 
Peter's church, Didlebur}', Shrops, he showed me the manu- 
scripts containing the parish registers, but there was no record 
Among them dating between 1598 and 1683. 



A MASON RECORD 7 

The main point we have to use is the accepted historical refer- 
ence to his connection with Lord Thomas Fairfax durinj; his 
service in the Netherhmds, and a corres|)oiulence between them 
after the Major had been in this country some years. 

There was produced for sale in London, July, ISOO, a valuable 
private collection called "The Cosens Autographs," containing 
among other rare manuscripts unheard of before then, "The 
Fairfax Correspondence, filling twelve portfolios," and which 
speaks of the times and the men when Sir Thomas took so active 
a part. It sold for £105 and was inn-chased by (^uaritch. This 
might prove an aid in the search, if it can be traced. 

Sir Horace de Yere, upon the death of his famous brother Sir 
Francis in 1608, was Lortl-General of the English forces in the Low 
Countries. He would have lieen twenty-two years in command 
at the time of the siege of Bois-le-Duc in 1630, and sixty-five years 
of age, an old soldier, as he had been in foreign service before the 
victory at Nieuport, and was prominent in the defense of Ostend 
in 1602. 

If Lieut. Mason had been some 3'ears with the English forces 
in the Low Countries, as Ellis in his Life of John Mason says 
"it is possible," he probably had been "bred to arms" under 
General de Vere, and had become the companion-in-arms of young 
Fairfax when the latter came out as a volunteer. 

The statement usual in all the references to Major Mason's 
early army life that he "was bred to arms under Sir Thomas 
Fairfax in the Netherlands," seems to have been passed along 
without criticism, but cannot be substantiated by the published 
facts of General Fairfax's life, and the history of the times. He 
undoubtedly was the friend of Sir Thomas, and the regard the 
latter had for him, and the esteem in which he held Major Mason's 
military talents, is shown by the urgency with which he wrote him 
to come back to England and accept a commission of high rank 
in the army. 

The Sir Thomas Fairfax who purchased the Scotch baronetcy 
of Cameron is the only one of the family of record as serving 
in the Netherlands. He Avas the grandfather of General Fairfax. 
"He was captain of a company of troopers in the Low Countries; 
in the prime of life interested in agriculture and the raising of 



b A MASON RECORD 

stock, and in his old age lived a retired life. After four score years 
he died in 1640." 

Lieut. Mason could not have been ''bred to arms" with this 
Sir Thomas, for he must still have been in his early boyhood days, 
when the captain was in the Netherlands and in his prime of life 
at home on his estates in Yorkshire. 

Lord Fairfax had not received the title of knighthood at the 
time he was in the Netherlands, and never commanded an army 
there. He was knighted by Charles L in 1640. 

Young Fairfax went directly from College in April of 1630, 
as a volunteer on the staff of his future father-in-law, General 
Sir Horace de Vere, commanding the English contingent in the 
Low Countries, and remained there only five months, during tne 
siege of Bois-le-Duc. He was then in the nineteenth 3^ear of his 
age. 

Lieut. ]\Iason was probably with the army at that time, and 
may have been also a member of the General's staff, or at all 
events in a position that placed the young men in intimate inter- 
course. ^Mason was then about twenty-eight years of age. 

After leaving the Netherlands, Fairfax Avent to France, Avhere 
he remained until February of 1632. 

There is no record produced as to Mason's movements until 
his commission from the Governor of Massachusetts Bay in 
December of 1632. Whether he was with Lord Fairfax in France, 
and landed at the same time in London in February of 1632, and 
thence sailed for the Colonies arriving the last of the year, may be 
conjectured. 

Greenwich Conn; Theo. W. Mason. 

1904. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Baldwin, Theophilus, 17 

Blake, Alexander V., 51, 55, 56 

Clarence Alexander, 47 

Elizabeth Matilda, 54 
Brainerd. David, 19 

Hezekiah, 19 
Browne, John, 13 



Chesebroiij^h, Joseph, 17 

Elisha, 17 

Zerviah, 17 
Clark. Thomas, 19 

Mary, 19 
Crafts, Royall Altamont, 27 



Darling, John, 54 

Mary Elizabeth, 54 
Denison, John, 15 

Edward, 16 

Margaret, 16, 18 
Derby, Hasket, 40 
DeWitt, Katharine Van Vliet, 43, 

Peter, 43, 48, 
Dickson, Mary Frances, 56 
Dutton, Charles H., 28 



Ellison, Francis B., 27 



Fitch, Abigail, 15 

Andrew, 22 

Elizabeth, 21 

James, 13, 15, 21, 22, 

Joseph, 14, 25 

Nancy, 25 
Francis, Ebenezer, 33 

Sarah Ellen, 33 



Gardner, Sarah, 25 
Gautier, Andrew, 49, 50 

Hannah Turner, 49 
Gay, Mary Reid, 51 
Gray, John Chipman, 41 



Ilill, Charles. 13 

Ilillhouse, John Griswolil, 22 

llobart, Dorothy, 18, 19 

Jeremiaii, 18 

Mary, 17 

Peter, 17, 18 

Rebecca, 17 
Hoxie, Frances Gay, 50 

Samuel, 50 
Hunt, Nathan Strong, 28 
Huntington, lOunice, 28 

Frederick Dan, 20 

Nathan, 20 

William, 28 



Johnston, Melissa Clementine, 52 



Lathrop, Deborah, 29 

Simon, 29 
Laselle, Beach A., 55 
Lawrence, Amos, 38, 40, 41 

Susannah, 38 
Lewis, Burdsall J. 43 

Isaac, 30 

Mary Elizabeth, 30 
Lyman, Anna Huntington, 41 

Jonathan Huntington, 41 



Marsh, Joseph, 20 
Mason, Abbv Jane, 28 
Abigail, 17, 22 
Albert Woods, 55 
Alfred, 25 
Alfred, 27, 37 
Alfred DeWitt, 48, 58, 59 
Amos Lawrence, 40, 51 
Anna, 20, 21, 22, 24 
Anna Francis, 37 
Anna Sophia Lyman, 41 
Anno, 13, 14, 15 
Bethia Huntington, 28 
Blanche Lvman, 53 
Charles, 27, 38, 39 
Charles Jeremiah, 42, 53 



Index 



Mason, Clara Thorndike, 37 
Cvnthia, 24 
Daniel, 13, 15, 16, IS, 20, 22, 23, 

28, 29 
Daniel David, 43 
David, 20, 21, 23, 30 
David Lathrop, 29, 42 
Dorothy, 20 
Edward, 25, 32 
Edward DeWitt, 46, 47 
Ellen Francis, 37 
Elizabeth, 13, 15, 21, 22, 24, 36 
Elizabeth Duncan, 47 
Elizabeth Fitch, 25 
Evniice Elizabeth, 28 
Frances Fitch, 51 
George Daniel, 54 
George Edward, 32 
George Means, 27 
Hannah, 15 
Harriet Sargent, 53 
Harriette Sargent, 42 
-Hezekiah, 16 
Ida Means, 37 
James Fitch, 22, 25, 32, 50 
James Jeremiah, 27, 32 
Jane, 27 

Janet DeWitt, 59 
Janet Duncan, 46 
Jeremiah, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 

27 32 
John', 11, 12, 13. 14, 15, 36 
John Griswold Hillhouse, 28 
John Jr., 15 
John Meredith, 55 
John 3d., 15 
John West, 31, 49 
Joseph Taylor, 43, 54 
Julia Ann, 28 
Katharine, 46 
Katharine Maud, 54 
Lewis Duncan, 46, 56, 57 
Lydia, 54 
Lydia Asenath, 43 
Margaret, 17 
Marianne, 27 
Marion Steedman, 52 
Marv, 20, 24, 40 — 
Mary Elizabeth, 27, 31, 46, 59 
Mary Lvon, 28 
NanW Fitch, 25, 32 
Nehemiah, 17 
Peter, 17 
Peter' DeWitt, 46 
Priscilla. 13, 17, 23 
Rachel, 13 
Rebecca, 17 
Rhoda, 22 



Mason, Rhoda Louisa, 28 

Robert Means, 27, 33, 35 

Samuel, 13, 14, 17 

Sarah, 14, 23, 25, 40 

Susan, 24 

Susan Lawrence, 39 

Theodora Evelvn, 55 

Theodore Lewis, 31, 43, 44, 45 

Theodore West, 46, 54 

Wealthy Ann, 23 

Wealthy Fitch, 28 

William, 25 

William Alfred, 32, 51 
Means, Marv, 25 

Robert, 25, 28 
Merry, Angelina Augusta, 53 

William Lawrence, 53 

Northup, Lyman Hall, 43 
Noyes, Anne Sanford, 15 

Oliver, Fitch Edwaxrl. 39 

Peck, Anne, 13 

Robert, 13 
Pott, James, 55 

Rodman, William Barbour, 42 

Sedgwick, Theodore, 21 
Slocum, Asenath, 42 
Smith. John, 14 

Judith, 14 
Stanton, Joseph, 17 

Zerviah, 17 
Steedman, Charles, 51, 52 

Louii5a Blake, 51 
Stiles, Edmund. 32 

Phylura O., 32 
Stockton, Howard, 40 
Swain, Elizabeth, 58 

James, 58, 59 

Taylor, Asenath Slocum, 42 

Joseph, 42, 43 
Thorndike, Elizabeth Frances, 32 

Israel, 32 

West, Joshua, 23, 24 

Susanna, 23 
Whiting. William, 20 
Wilson, Richard Thornton, 52 
Winthrop, Robert Charles, 36 
Witherspoon, Isaac Donnom, 56, 57 

John, 58 



DEC 16 'y^*^ 



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